Regeneration
by Julie Reed
Summary: Jane Sykes, surviving police officer, has lost the most important person in her life. Now she is in charge of the individual that murdered him. Locked inside a building home to the wounded and the expiring, she is his only connection to the world and he is the main focus in her job. The two sides of the coin are about to face each other. Eventual complicated Bane/OC. Set after TDKR
1. And She Fell Down

**A/N: I am not a native English speaker so sorry if there're any grammar/vocabulary mistakes :)**

**Opinions and reviews are very much welcomed :)**

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**1. And She Went Down.**

The police station looked like shit and she wasn't surprised. After months of being controlled by Mr. Destroy-it-all, like Jane usually called him, police stations all around the city had been burnt down to the ground. Hers had been particularly 'lucky' and the whole structure was going to be demolished to build a new building instead. The façade was still up and apart from minor breaches it could be said that it looked relatively fine, but the inside was completely destroyed and the main walls were ruined. Jane got to what had been her office and picked up the few useful things that she could find: ammo and chewing gum, that was all. She realised that it looked like at some point someone had decided to have a little party in that area; either that or her workmates had been more sneaky than usual with the alcohol. Both options were possible. After inspecting the place, Jane went to the central room to disconnect the radio. She had been instructed to do so because they didn't want the wrong people to enter the building and listen to whatever they had to say before the whole thing was knocked down. She pulled from the cables one by one, accomplishing one of the dreams that she had had since she first entered the police: getting rid of the annoying radio station. She had never liked the place because the only memories that popped up into her brain were stressful and chaotic. 'I don't care, I don't care and I don't care.' Jane repeated while ignoring all the calls. She felt relieved when she was done with it and slightly smiled.

'Officer Sykes here, central radio station has been disconnected', Jane said to the still alive mini radio hanging on her shoulder.

'Stand-by, Sykes.'

'Copy'.

As glad as she could be, which wasn't very, she went out and sat inside the car. _At least everything has ended and there is no more stupid atomic bomb to worry about_, she said to herself. _Phew_. The problem was that all the convicts that Bane had set free were, as just mentioned, free. The first order that most police officers had received had been to aid civilians, but they all knew that sooner or later they were going to have to bring those convicts back to jail again, and that was going to be hard, very hard. But Jane tried not to think too much about it and forced herself to relax for a few seconds in the car. For the first time after all that huge mess, she was starting to realise that she had survived. It wasn't something very simple to comprehend taking into account that most of her companions had died or disappeared without leaving any trace and that she didn't have any idea of where her few friends were. However, there she was, sitting in her car, chewing strawberry bubblegum and waiting for orders. Jane hit the wheel and took a deep breath. 'I'm here, I'm here…' she whispered.

'Officers required in the town hall area.' A male voice came out of the radio on her shoulder.

'Sykes. I'm on my way.'

Jane pushed the pedal and started driving. There weren't many cars in the deserted empty streets because the traffic hadn't been reestablished yet. It felt entertaining and scary at the same time, Jane thought that it could stay like that for a while before it came back to its normal chaotic state. The officer saw some people going out of their houses for the first time in months, some looked pale and terrified; some were happy to be able to be out again without being scared of being shot to death or caught in an explosion. One of them specially caught her attention. It was an old lady, she was stepping outside her home very carefully and slowly, her face was disconcerted. Jane rolled down the window and lowered the speed.

'It's ok to go out during daylight, ma'am' she told her while passing by her side, 'but just make sure that you are not alone, alright?'

The elder woman looked at her scared, turned around and locked the door behind her. Jane sighed and accelerated again. She couldn't blame the woman for that, she understood that after all that had happened it wasn't very easy to trust anybody. Jane was happy that she didn't find anyone else in the way to the town hall and that ambulances were back to work.

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The officer parked next to another bunch of police cars and went to talk to the person in charge. The situation around her wasn't very exhilarating. There were injured bodies everywhere and trucks loaded with corpses drove around the place every now and then being filled up with more dead people. When Jane stopped to look at the situation, she realised again about how lucky she had been and felt guilty for being alive. It wasn't a nice feeling and she wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible but she couldn't help but think that she could have been among those corpses. She shook her head and approached one of the tables with the sign of the police department on it.

'Officer Sykes. I heard you guys need help.'

The woman looked at Jane and smiled. The lady was in her fifties, her hair was dyed red and even though it was freezing cold, she was sweating from each pore of her skin.

'Yes, right. Mm, we need more units to help rebuild the inside of the town hall. You think you can do that?', she told her. It wasn't a question, it was an order, but she was pretending to be nice and calm. Jane smiled back at her, she didn't want to be rude.

'Sure, ma'am.'

Without saying anything else, she turned around and went upstairs towards the inside of the biggest building in the square, the town hall. What she found there was more of the same: dust and nice and expensive broken stuff. One of the men supervising the different emergency teams explained the situation to Jane. It seemed that the wall of one of the main rooms had been seriously damaged and it needed quick repairing, the problem was that, before that, they had to make room for the workers to actually work in it and get rid of the huge stones that were all over the place. Nice.

'You are gonna need this, lady.' another standing by the door gave her a half-face respirator, 'it's full of dust in there and god knows where it comes from.'

'Thanks.' she said.

Jane put on the respirator and entered the room. At the beginning it didn't look that bad, there were huge opened windows and the air was clear but when she got to the huge perforation on the wall everything changed. On the other side of the hole there was another big hole, this one going down, and it was covered by a thick cloud of some yellowish powder that didn't look very healthy.

'Holy shit, what happened here?', Jane asked to a fireman.

'It's the space between buildings, it's supposed to be empty but now it's full of pieces of both buildings that have been falling down with the explosion.'

'What explosion?'

'I don't know. People say they heard an explosion a while after the Batman and Bane went in… and well, this looks like an explosion.', he pointed at the giant broken rocks on the wall.

'Yeah, it does. So, how can I help, sir?'

'Go down and start making space for the building company to start fixing this shit.' he gave Jane a climbing harness. _Fun…not_. 'Tie it to this rope and down you go. There are two more officers in there already but they are too big to access some areas and check the condition of the wall.' he looked at Jane's body, making her feel uncomfortable, 'I guess you are smaller than them, you can do that. There's no risk, they say the building is not as bad as it looks.'

'Not as bad as it looks, huh?'. S_ure…,_ 'What am I supposed to find?'

'More cracks, fissures... Whatever looks dangerous to you, just tell us.' he handed her a tiny walkie-talkie that she kept in her pocket.

'Well, this whole thing looks dangerous to me.' she said.

'Well, officer, this whole town looks dangerous to me and here I am.'

'I'm sorry, sir.' Jane knew it was time to shut up and started tying the rope to the harness. 'Ready, sir.'

And she went down. It wasn't as dark as she had imagined and knowing that two other policemen were wandering around the place made her relax a bit more. The yellowish dusty cloud came all the way up from the bottom of the place and it made the work way harder. Jane couldn't see properly where she was putting her hands and let alone her feet so she moved as carefully as she could, feeling everything before giving any other step forward. While she kept going down, she blamed whoever had done that and wondered why she had even accepted to do the job. She sighed. She didn't have much idea about what to do if something really bad happened. A shadow approached her, it was one of the other officers.

'Here,' he gave Jane a lantern, 'a few meters down there are two big rocks, they are stable, we have checked.'

'Ok, so?'

'So go between them and see where that fucking dust comes from and let's see if we can fix it'.

He started to descend even more and Jane followed him. She wasn't an expert climber but she was strong and flexible, so she managed to go down without major problems. The two rocks were indeed quite big and they blocked all the way down. The yellow floating powder was coming out of the small space between the two giant stones, the small space where she had to go through all by herself. _Yay! _There was a flickering light illuminating the place every now and again, it was hanging above their heads. Jane tried to look for any desperate excuse not to do it but she couldn't find any. Lots of people had already died trying to save the town; going through that space looked like an easy job compared to what other people had had to do._ At least I don't have to take a jet and fly away with a nuclear bomb hanging down my ass_. During just a second, Jane felt sad for that man, she had never met him but she owed him her life, she realised that she owed her life to too many people. Jane took another deep breath, though this time it didn't feel so good because the damn mask was in the way, and squeezed herself in between the rocks.

'What do you see?', the guy asked.

'Not much, this is full of crap and the rocks block the light, hold on a sec,' she turned on the lantern, 'better.'

There wasn't much to see, just more walls and a few metal beams. The walls looked ok, there weren't any cracks or broken beams, but there was something getting into Jane's nerves. It was a noise, like some kind of troublesome breathing mixed with the echo of a tin can. _Weird_, she thought. Jane moved the lantern around, pointing at the place where she thought the sound came from but she couldn't distinguish a thing, just bunches of some strange boxes. She approached one of the wooden cases and inspected it, it had something written on it. 'Dr. Jonathan Crane'. _What the hell? That crazy maniac's stuff?_ She opened one of the boxes and saw that most vials were opened. It just couldn't get better.

'Hey, you there?', she yelled while holding one of the vials.

'Yeah. You found something?', the face of the officer appeared in between the rocks.

'Dr. Crazy Crane's drugs are all over the place and there are broken vials.' Jane showed the vial.

'It must have been because of the explosion. Don't move, alright? I'll go and get more people down here so we can take that shit out.'

'Roger that… Erm, hurry up, ok? This place is creeping me out.'

But she didn't get any response back. Her mask was still in place so she kept examining all the boxes to check whether there were more broken vials or not. The weird noise continued being there but she had forgotten to mention it to her new companion. _I guess he would have told me if he had heard it too, right?_ Jane finally accepted that she was starting to panic so she sat down on the floor and tried to keep calm but, of course, couldn't. The light that came from her lantern moved from one place to another, analysing every single spot, while Jane waited to see if something happened. A few rocks moved. _Huh?_ The woman crawled towards the rocks that had just moved, there was nothing but that weird sound. She used her hands to clear the area she was standing on. The sound was still there. What if there was someone trapped among all those toxins? Jane panicked even more.

_ '_Hel…?'

She didn't have time to pronounce a single syllable more. The ground started to vibrate under her hands and feet, it felt like a small tremble. She tried to stop moving thinking that the shuddering would cease but she was wrong and in less that a few seconds Jane fell down, deep down. She didn't know how many meters she had flown down that hole but she knew it hurt, it hurt like hell. Jane opened her eyes scared to see if she had gotten any limb broken but what she saw was even more scary than getting all your limbs broken. It was seeing the person that could actually break all your bones: Mr. Destroy-it-all... Bane.


	2. Take Me Out of Here

**A/N: I am not a native English speaker so sorry if there're any grammar/vocabulary mistakes :)**

**Opinions and reviews are very much welcomed. Thank you for reading and following :)**

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**2. Take Me Out of Here**

Jane stood right where she had fallen, her grey eyes wide opened, inspecting the man. He was lying on the ground, gasping for air every few seconds, moving his chest in a very strange way. He looked like he was collapsing and probably unconscious. Jane didn't know how to react. She stood up as quickly as she could and gave a few steps towards the place where he was lying. It was the first time that she had been so close to him and the experience wasn't being very nice. He looked big, very, very big, and the mask didn't add much friendliness to his aspect. Jane felt relieved that he was unconscious and decided to check his pulse. His skin was warm and she could feel the strong beat of his heart right under her fingers. He was very much alive. She had always felt curious about his mask so now that he was unconscious she had the opportunity to inspect it. It was made of some kind of metal and had little tubes connected to it, she wondered what they were for and tried to see his face under it but couldn't move it. Jane realised that there was blood coming out of it, dripping down his neck and getting under his shirt. When her eyes followed the blood, she found out that he had a strange purple mark on his chest, it didn't look good. She opened the protective vest that he was wearing and ripped off his black shirt. She saw a quite serious bruise that occupied the right side of his chest and part of the abdomen. She felt it carefully with the palm of her hands: something was broken in there. Suddenly, he opened his eyes and stared at her. For a few milliseconds his look was angry and furious but then his eyes started showing the deepest of fears and he tried to move away from her. He couldn't do much so he just stayed in the same position, staring and her like no one had ever done before and coughing. He was really scared. _No, no, no, no… Stupid crazy Crane. _She took the walkie-talkie out of her pocket.

'Officer Sykes. I have Ba…', she heard a noise, he had smashed his fist on the ground. He was seriously in pain and literally freaking out, '… I have a civilian here, male, in his thirties, big complexion and with probable internal bleeding. He's been breathing Jonathan Crane's toxins so he's in need of the antidote and urgent medical assistance.'

A few seconds passed by but it felt like minutes for Jane.

'Copy that. We're moving down.'

'Roger.'

She held the walkie-talkie like it was the most precious thing in the world and kept looking at Bane. There was much more blood coming out of the mask and he started to sound like he was choking. _Crap, crap, crap. _Why hadn't she even mentioned that the 'male with a big complexion' was Bane? She knew the answer but didn't want to admit it. She knew that if she had said his name they would have probably ignored the call or just tell her to kill him and she didn't want to do that. She was very well aware that the man lying in front of her was the one responsible for the deaths of thousands of people, including some that were extremely close to her, but she couldn't stop thinking that it was a human life and that she had to do what was supposed to be right: save his life. She intended to approach him but it only accelerated his breathing and that wasn't very good for his health. Some small rocks fell on her head. She looked up and saw the light of a lantern. The other officer had returned.

'Here, take the bag.' she saw a black bag tied up to a rope coming down the space between the rocks, 'the antidote and a syringe are in there. There's also a first aid emergency kit and water. You know what you have to do?'

'Yeah, kind of. Guys, you have to take us out of here, the…civilian is in really bad shape.' Jane yelled.

'We are working on it, mate. They said it'll take a few minutes though. We'll probably blow up the rocks but I'll inform you when we are sure.'

'Alright, alright…', she looked at Bane, 'just make it quick. I'm not sure he'll make it.'

'Copy.'

Bane's fist hit the ground once more and something like a scream came out of the mask. Jane hurried up and opened the bag. Her hands were shaking, she couldn't believe all that was real. She managed to load the syringe with the antidote from the vial and made sure that there was no air left in it. She took some cotton and alcohol from the first aid kit and approached Bane very slowly.

'It's ok, I'm just gonna… insert a needle into your skin.'

_Nice choice of words, Jane._ She had to be quick if she wanted to do it. She put her knee on top of his arm and tried to immobilise it with the weight of her body. Of course, it wasn't easy but all she needed was just a second of peace so she could focus. That second came right afterwards and Jane took her chance. She quickly rubbed the cotton with alcohol onto his neck and stabbed him with the needle, releasing the antidote into his body. She stepped back and sat down on the floor again, waiting for the antidote to start making effect. She put the cap back on the syringe and kept it in the bag. It had been done. Bane's body kept shaking for a while, he was still afraid of everything around him until all of a sudden, the movement stopped and the choking started again. Jane moved closer to him, making sure that he heard her so she wouldn't come as a surprise. He moved his head towards her, he looked very disoriented. Jane didn't know what to say, she felt that the standard 'I'm here to help you' wasn't going to work with him.

'Don't move your head. We don't know if it's damaged yet.'

He moved his head back to his position and remained silent. A new river of blood came out of the mask as he coughed. Jane kneeled by his side and moved her hands towards the straps on his head. Unexpectedly, he grabbed her left wrist and put her arm away from his face.

'Hey, I need to do that. You are choking.'

He aimed to punch her face but Jane saw it coming and dodged it. She made a bit of pressure on the part of the abdomen that was damaged with her right hand and stared at him. His eyes closed covered in pain and he emitted a small cry that he had been trying to hold.

'You feel that? You have some serious internal bleeding, probably broken ribs or something, and that's affecting your breathing. So I suggest you take off that mask of yours and stop swallowing blood if you don't wanna choke to death.'

He kept staring at her for a few seconds. Jane tried not to look away from his eyes, which were filled with agony and impotent anger.

'Pa…in', he finally said almost whispering.

'Pain? Yeah, I know it hurts...Oh! You mean the mask! Will it hurt you if I take it off?'

He nodded.

'Ok. Ok. Let me see…' Jane took her walkie-talkie again.' Sykes here. You guys can get me some morphine?'

'M…uch.' Bane said.

'Ok. You guys can get me much morphine?' she repeated, 'he's really in pain.'

'Affirmative. There's already an ambulance waiting outside. Give me a minute.'

A new bag came down the hole. Jane kneeled over his legs, took away his belt and slightly pulled down his pants. She cleaned with alcohol a small area of skin on the lower right side of his abdomen and inserted the needle deep into his skin. After one or two minutes, he clearly started to relax and the speed of his breathing slowed down. Jane moved up again and resumed her work. He tried to stop her a few times.

'You have no excuse now. I won't look if you don't want me to, but you really need to spit all that blood out. You can barely breathe.'

He nodded again. Very carefully, Jane removed the straps from his head and checked that the mask was loose enough for him to release it. Then, she turned around and waited. She heard him coughing and spitting out the blood that he had been trying to swallow. _Men._ When all went silent again, she turned around and helped him tighten the straps of the mask.

'Sykes, you there?', the walkie-talkie sounded in her pocket. Jane took it out.

'Yeah, yeah, I'm still here.' Bane stared at her. Jane gulped. She was sure he was trying to kill her with his eyes.

'Ok. Listen, here's the plan. We are gonna blow up the rocks and then send a rescue team to take you guys out. They say the rocks will turn into small pieces so it shouldn't be a problem, alright? They are experts. Just make sure you cover your head and protect the civilian. We're doing it in one minute.'

'Ok. Understood.'

Jane quickly closed the bag with the first aid kit and moved towards Bane. He coughed, no blood went out of the mask though the sound that he produced when breathing was a bit alarming.

'They are gon…'

'I… heard it.' he interrupted her while taking a gasp of air.

'So I have to….'

'I know.'

Not very comfortably, Jane put her legs around his waist trying to cover the damaged area of his body with her own and protecting his head with her arms. She could feel the intense heat of his body and the short intakes of air in his chest.

'We are ready. Please, take me out of here.'

Bane laughed shortly and right after, the rocks exploded into pieces. Jane could hear how the coughing came back again from his lungs because of the dust and the laughing so she tried to clear up the air around his face. The rescue team, formed by three men, started to descend and landed next to them. One of the men in the team went to talk to Jane and kneeled next to Bane. He couldn't see the face of the 'male with a big complexion' until the dust had settled down and then he turned his eyes to Jane, who was still over him.

'He's being coughing blood but it seems it has stopped. There's also this huge bruise on the abdomen, ' Jane showed it, 'and also troublesome breathing. Oh, and don't take away the mask or he will be in pain.'

Jane tried to ignore the fact that he was Bane. Maybe they would also do so. The man kept looking at her and then stared back at Bane.

'Hell…o' Bane said slowly. He seemed to be enjoying the situation.

'Are you fucking nuts?' one of the guys in the rescue team yelled at her, 'he almost destroyed the whole town and you want us to save his life?'

'I…'

'You are an idiot.' another one said.

'Well, so this idiot happens to be an officer of the law and law says that he has the right to receive medical assistance and to be fairly judged. I know that he's killed people, oh! I know that very well, but this idiot is not going anywhere without this other idiot so you better take us out of here.'

'I rea…lly appreci...ate that…Miss.' said Bane difficultly. Jane couldn't see his face but she could sense he was smiling.

_You, bastard._


	3. It'll Get Better

**A/N: I am not a native English speaker so sorry if there're any grammar/vocabulary mistakes :)**

**Opinions and reviews are very much welcomed. Thank you so much for reading and following!**

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**3. It'll Get Better**

'I heard what you did yesterday, Sykes! You saved Bane,' one of them said mocking at her, 'how does it feel, huh? You should be ashamed.'

Jane ignored him and kept walking through the corridor. She went upstairs and looked for the door with the name of the person that had been asking for her, Commissioner James Gordon. She had received a telephone call telling her that he wanted to see her a few hours after she had arrived home the previous day. At the beginning, she got worried because she thought that she was going to be blamed for saving Bane but then she just didn't care at all, she was too tired to care about it. Finally, she found the door. It was the last one and it was half open. Jane knocked and stepped inside. James Gordon was standing by the window and turned around to receive her.

'Please, come on in' he smiled kindly, 'sit down.'

Jane did as instructed and looked around. There were cardboard boxes on the floor and the shelves were empty. They must have been moving. There was a huge window on one of the walls but the curtains were closed. Jane looked at the Commissioner.

'I was told you wanted to see me, sir.' Jane said.

'Yes, yes.' he put on his glasses and opened a yellow folder with Jane's name and surname on it. He read through a few lines and looked at her again. 'I heard you took good care of Bane yesterday.'

'I just did what was needed, sir. How is he?'

'He's been taken to the general hospital, the lastest information I have is that the operation was successful.'

'He underwent surgery?'

'Oh, yes. He had both collarbones fractured, three broken ribs and a small perforation in his right lung caused by one of the ribs. They wonder how he got all those injuries but honestly, no one really cares about him. Why did you decide to aid him, officer?' he asked intrigued.

'Because I just saw a human life, sir. He was suffering, he was dying.'

'I see. There are not many people like you nowadays, Jane.' he took his glasses off and looked at Jane, directly in the eyes. His eyes were rather comforting, 'especially after what you've been through.' The atmosphere in the room became uneasy and silent. Jane's face turned bitter as James Gordon reached for her hand and held it with his own, she knew where he was going. 'Did you take a few days off after what happened five months ago?' he asked smoothly.

'No, sir. There was no time for it, Gotham needed help and I preferred to keep my mind busy.' she said taking away her hand and trying to hold back a few tears. She didn't want to cry.

'I'm sorry. I know it's none of my business but I just want the best for my officers, officer Sykes. That's why I'm giving you a new assignment.'

'I'm ok, sir. There's no need to…'

'It's an order, Sykes.' Gordon closed the folder and stood up. Jane imitated him. 'They need someone in the hospital while Bane's there. People will hear about it and well, he'll need protection while he's in there,' Gordon looked at her while holding the door, 'plus, it will do you well. You won't have much to do.'

'Sir…'

'Listen, Sykes. The rest of the officers are all around the city dragging corpses and rescuing people that don't always make it. I know you don't want to do that because you've had enough so take it as your personal holidays while the city's order is restored' he patted her on the shoulder, 'you know you need it, Jane, you know you need it.', he said softly.

'Ok, sir, I'll do it.'

'Good. I've already told them you are going, the nurses will be happy to see you there. Take care, officer.'

Jane closed the door and stood at the end of the corridor. The sound of boxes falling interrupted her thoughts, those that she had been trying to bury for five months. She kept walking and came back to the car. She wanted to hurt herself, she wanted to yell and cry but she didn't, she kept it all inside her heart, like she had always done.

The hospital was overcrowded, there were beds in the corridors and doctors running from room to room. She went to the information desk and discretely asked for Bane. They looked at her relieved and told her he had been isolated in the sixth floor, where the morgue was. Jane gulped and thanked them for the information. They wished her luck and continued attending the queue that Jane had skipped. The lifts were busy with wounded people so Jane decided to take the stairs. She found people in some floors, sitting on the stairs or smoking, though it wasn't allowed. But she didn't say anything, she could imagine what they were going through. When she got to the sixth floor, everything was silent, of course. _It's the morgue, you silly._ She followed the instructions that she had been given and found the room quickly, it wasn't very difficult to spot. There were two soldiers standing outside the door and one nurse locking it. They waved at Jane as she approached and grinned.

'Hi. I'm Jane Sykes, police officer.' she showed them her badge.

'Yeah, we knew you were coming. So I guess we are done here for today.'

'Sure. Long day?'

'You can't imagine. This guy is nuts, he can't even go to the toilet without smacking someone in the face.' they both laughed, but Jane felt sad for him. 'He doesn't want any help, but doctors have told us that he really needs to follow their orders.'

'Of course. Is he still sedated?'

'Yes. But he's awake, just a bit groggy. The nurse will tell you what to do, she's the only one left, the other two left this morning. Enjoy your time here.' they said sarcastically.

They gave Jane a key and left. Jane got closer to the door and put her face against the glass. He was on the bed, with his mask on and a saline solution connected to his arm. Jane opened the door and went in. The sound of his breathing echoed in the empty room together with the beep of the heart monitor. Jane's steps joined the melody as she walked towards him. The bed sheets covered only his legs and hips, his torso was bandaged and it had a few blood stains, the wounds had been probably leaking. Jane took the time to inspect the little that she could see of his face. He had scars on his scalp and his eyebrows were bright coloured, almost blond. She gave a snort of surprise. Bane gave another one, Jane jumped scared. Before she could struggle, he grabbed her neck and brought her close to his face. Jane kept trying to release herself from his strong hands but it was impossible.

'Where's Talia? What happened to her?', yelled Bane.

'I don't know who Talia is!'

'Miranda Tate, sounds familiar?' he said. Jane had heard of her, indeed. She had been the one trying to detonate the bomb, the one responsible for everything that had happened.

'She's dead! Bane, let me go. She's dead.' her voice came out in gasps.

Bane's blue eyes got wet. He pressured Jane's neck even more, interrupting the airflow in her trachea. Her face turned red as she started to choke. Bane had started to break, now he knew how it felt. His eyes moved all around the room, his heart rate increased and a tear ran down his face. He threw Jane's body to the floor, then disconnected all the tubes from his arms and stood up. He looked like a caged animal that was about to explode, his arms were shaking, his head felt heavy, his breathing was painful. He tossed the heart monitor to the floor, broke the drip with the saline solution and went out of the room. Jane had already stood up and was pressing the emergency button on the wall. She took her gun and went out. Bane hadn't gone very far, he was walking down the corridor, smacking everything that was in his way. He couldn't run properly because of the pain and the sedatives but he was fast. Jane ran to him and tried to stop him. She literally jumped onto his back and they both fell to the floor. Bane stopped moving, his face was facing the ground and his eyes were lost nowhere. He was crying.

'I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Bane.' Jane said to him. He punched the floor and broke a few tiles. Jane held his hands so he wouldn't do it again.

'What happened?' he asked, 'what happened to her?' he repeated.

'She was driving the truck, the one with the bomb, but the Batman was after her and… she couldn't make it.'

Bane tried to stand up but his legs were too weak so he fell down again. Jane held him on the floor, so he wouldn't run away and the soldiers wouldn't shoot him. She also started to cry, she knew exactly how he felt.

'It's ok to cry, Bane. You need to do it.'

He tried to move again but Jane held him down. He wasn't fighting against her, he was just desperate, desolated and he needed to take that out in some way.

'I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.' Jane repeated whispering, trying to calm him down.

The nurse and the two soldiers came out of the lift and looked at them on the floor. Bane ignored it. Jane told them that it was ok, that they could leave.

'Are you sure?', they asked approaching slowly.

'Just leave, he's just… lost someone.', Jane could feel the warmth of his tears falling on her hand. She was holding his head because he had been trying to hurt himself.

The three of them looked confused but Jane could distinguish a hint of sadness in their eyes. They told her that they would wait in the staircase because they didn't trust him. Jane promised them that she would take him back to his bed. When they left, she looked at Bane again. He had stopped crying, his eyes looked empty and dead. Jane didn't say anything, she realised that she had been stroking with her thumb a part of his cheek unconsciously. She felt the heat of the pain in her heart growing up again, the cry in her throat ready to escape, but she managed to hold it in, she couldn't let herself go now. She dried a few tears that were running down her face and did the same with Bane's. They stayed on the floor during a few minutes, until Bane started coughing and having trouble to breathe.

'Come on. We gotta get you to that bed again.' she tried to help him stand up but he was too heavy. She made him lay on his back and told him to slow down his breathing. She could see how he was trying to hold back more tears, his expression was both painful and angry. Jane thought that he maybe wanted to be alone so she decided to leave him and came back to the room to put back all the machines that he had tossed away. She sat on a chair and waited. She waited a long time, until one hour later, she heard a few steps. She stood up and saw Bane walking into the room. He looked pathetic. Jane remembered him when his face had been in the screen of the stadium, telling the whole city that they were gonna blow up in the air, he was full of strength and pride. And there he was now, wearing hospital pants, being bandaged all over and having difficulties to walk and breathe. He came to the bed all by himself and lay down on it. He didn't even look at Jane. He just lay there on his back, trying to catch his breath.

'Go.' he said. 'Go now or I'll try to strangle you again.'

Jane left the room and looked at him once more before closing the door. She could distinguish the shine of small tears coming out of his eyes again.

'It'll get better.' she told him as she closed the door.


	4. Can I Ask You Something?

**A/N: I am not a native English speaker so sorry if there're any grammar/vocabulary mistakes.**

**Opinions and reviews are very much welcomed. Thank you so much for your support!**

***I'm sorry I didn't update before. I caught a cold and my whole head felt clogged :(**

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**4. Can I Ask You Something?**

Bane didn't allow anyone into the room during the following week. He didn't cause any commotion about it, he just rose the palm of his hand whenever someone entered the room and said a simple 'not today'. Jane managed to convince the nurse to bring him food and medicines every morning. She walked into the room, left the wheeled tray right on the other side of the door and left. Every night, right before leaving, Jane would open the door, take the empty wheeled tray out and lock the door again. Even though she never got a reply, she always wished good night to him before locking. During the rest of the day, she sat on a chair outside the room and waited. At the beginning, Heather, the nurse, always brought her some magazines from the hospital cafeteria, but Jane always replied that she didn't have time to gossip about people's lives because she had more things going on in her own life. Heather stopped bringing her the magazines and Jane found the time she needed to think, to think deeply. She realised that maybe that was the reason why James Gordon had given her that assignment. She gave long walks along the corridor and sometimes she stood by the window, looking at the trees that had been replanted and at the people that were standing under their shadows. She liked to observe the children, they were always running amok, yelling and playing. They were so full of life and energy; they were the proof that Gotham was still alive and she sensed that their energy sometimes got into her body because she felt much happier after seeing them play. Usually, she always ended up reflecting on Bane. After seeing the kids play, she didn't understand how a person could possibly want to hurt them. Jane was very well aware that Gotham was corrupt, she knew that some people really needed to be taught a good lesson but the children…they were so innocent. During the siege of Gotham, she heard all kind of stories about him. The most popular one was that he had been brought up in a prison and looking at him through the glass, that kind of made sense to Jane. _Maybe he's just a victim, _she thought. _Maybe he could have been different. _But of course there was no way of fixing him now. When she thought about fixing, Jane thought about herself. She didn't really know why she was helping him, she just felt like she was tired of seeing suffering, death and broken families. Maybe her conscience was telling her that the huge masked man could have someone that cared about his life, that cared about if he lived or died. Or maybe she was just loosing her mind.

She left the window and came back to the chair. Before sitting down, she took a look at him through the glass in the door. At first she didn't react, her brain had gotten used to see the same image every day, a big masked guy lying on the bed. She turned around to sit on the chair and just as her body started rotating, her brain responded to what her eyes had seen: an empty bed. _Please, be in there. _She felt shivers going down her spine while she tried to find the key to the room in her pocket. Cellphone, wallet, bubblegum, car keys, home keys and finally, Bane's keys, as she had named them. She opened the door as quickly as she could and ran into the room. The bed was empty, but the floor wasn't. Jane could distinguish his hands between the metal bed legs, he was on the floor at the other side of the bed. There was a heavy but rhythmic breathing, no coughing, no choking. Jane finally reached him and looked down. The first thing she saw was a huge back, his muscles were tense and sweaty. He was raising his body with his arms, he was doing push-ups. Bane looked at her feet.

'Hello, Miss Sykes.' he said while moving.

'Hello,' Jane allowed herself to relax, 'I see you are in a better mood.' she said surprised.

'Yes. I hope I didn't cause any major alterations to your daily activities', he increased the speed of the push-ups.

'No, don't worry. My only daily activity is sitting on a chair.' she said as she sat down on a chair.

'That's not quite true, Miss Sykes. I have seen you walking up and down every day or did you think that you were the only one who could look through the glass?' he chuckled.

'Yeah, well. Not quite much of an activity.' Jane observed the bandage on his body, it was still in place and clean. She wondered where he had learnt to do it, she wondered if he put away the mask to shower. 'So, what made you be so happy today?'

'I'm not especially happy.' he stopped moving and stood up. Jane had forgotten how tall he was and felt trapped for a second. He looked at his arms and shook them to release the tension. 'But life is too short to waste it grieving the past, don't you think Miss Sykes?' he looked at her directly in the eyes. Jane realised for the first time that they were blue.

'I guess.', she said.

'You only guess? It seemed to me that you had much experience in loosing those closest to you.'

'Yes. But I don't wanna talk about it'.

Jane stood up and stretched her neck moving it to both sides. Bane remained silent for a second, looking at his hands and cracking his fingers.

'Of course. I understand', he said in a very serious tone.

Jane was surprised that he didn't insist and thanked him. He nodded and opened the door of a small white cupboard that was hanging on the wall. Inside, Jane could see that there were clean pants and shirts. Bane took out a pair of pants and put them on the bed. Then, he took the wheeled tray that was standing by the door and placed it near the bed. He started removing the bandages from his torso, very slowly and carefully, sliding his fingers between each layer of cloth and pulling from them at the same time. When he had finished, he put the long piece of cloth inside a plastic bag and tossed it under the wheeled tray, which was loaded with the new bandage material. He took a look at the sutures and Jane did the same. The main one from the operation was right in the middle of his chest and it went all the way down from the area under his neck. He had another one on his shoulder but it was much smaller and it didn't look as striking as the one on his chest. Jane looked away, she thought he maybe wanted to have some privacy.

'I don't mind if you look,' he said, 'but maybe you do.'

Jane moved her face towards him again. She couldn't remember the last time that she had seen someone naked, or half-naked. She felt uncomfortable and her eyes went everywhere around the room. She felt how her cheeks blushed little by little and how her hands started to sweat.

'Not used to see a man's body, Miss Sykes?' Bane asked while taking a look at the bottles that were on the wheeled tray.

'I am' she said. 'I don't like to talk about my private life.' she added after a while.

'I see.', he opened one of the bottles and smelled it. 'Would you mind fetching that basin?' Bane pointed at a small table standing under the cupboard of the wall. Jane took the basin that was on it and gave it to him. 'Thank you.'

He poured distilled water in it and added the content of one of the bottles that was on the wheeled tray. Jane observed him interested, she had never seen how sutures were cleaned and thought that it would be nice to learn how to do it, it could be useful in the future. He soaked a piece of cloth in the water and wrung it out throughly. Once it was almost dry, he started cleaning the sutures. He rubbed the piece of cloth in circles, extremely smoothly, first going over the stitches and then over the area around it. When he finished cleaning the one on his chest, he tossed away the cloth and took a new one. He repeated the same movements on his shoulder and then took a small towel and dried both of them very softly.

'Can I ask you something?' Jane said when he started to cover the wounds with new bandages.

'Of course.' he replied without looking at her.

'Do you regret what you did?'

There was silence. Bane finished putting the bandage over his shoulder and then gazed at her for a while.

'No', he kept staring at her, 'I don't.' He secured the bandage with surgical tape and then started to cover the wound on his chest. 'I don't regret doing something that I had planned to do for years.'

Jane didn't say anything else on the matter. She felt she had gotten more than she could have ever wished for and was shocked to hear that he had spent such a long time in planning how to wipe out the whole town. _He really must hate the people here._ Bane kept taking care of his sutures and Jane started to wander around the room, reflecting on his reply although there wasn't really much to reflect on. She looked at him. He was putting some plastic covering over the bandage, probably he was going to have a shower. The amount of tape that he was using wasn't enough and the plastic covering kept falling. Jane approached him and took the tape from his hand.

'Here, let me help you. Hold the plastic.' Bane did as she told him and Jane started to tape the edges around the wounds. It was easy because he had cleaned the skin so the tape got stuck to it quickly. When she was finished she put the tape back on the wheeled tray and put the plastic roll into its box. 'You have to be generous with the tape.'

'Thank you.' Bane checked that everything was perfectly sealed and grabbed the pants from the bed. 'Now, if you don't mind, I need to clean the rest of my body.' he opened a door that Jane hadn't noticed before. It led to a small bathroom.

'Sure. I'll leave you to it, I'll take this stuff out also.' she said while pushing the wheeled tray out of the room.

She locked the door and made sure that this time she put the key in a different pocket. Outside, Heather was waiting to pick up the tray and bring it back full with the food menu of the day. She was leaning against the wall, checking her nail polish. She was tall, a bit overweighted and had long and wavy hair. Jane thought that she was very pretty.

'Hey, officer.'

'Hi, Heather.' Jane said.

'It was surprising to see that he was more active today.' she said while pushing the tray towards the lift. 'I was kind of hoping that he would rot away in that bed.' she said looking back at Jane and smiling.

'Yeah.' Jane ignored the comment. 'You know where I can get something to eat at this time?'

'There's a cafeteria for the personnel of the hospital on the third floor. They'll let you in if you show them the badge, I've told them about you.'

'What exactly have you told them about me?' Jane said while entering the lift with her.

'That your life is boring.'

'I really appreciate that, Heather.', Jane laughed.

Just like Heather had told her, the people working in the cafeteria let her in and greeted her. Jane was surprised to see that they knew her name and then thought that she shouldn't be so amazed because probably Heather had told them a bit more apart from her life being boring. She bought a sandwich and went back to the room. Bane was sitting on the bed, he had something in his hands but Jane couldn't see what it was from that distance. She knocked on the door and opened.

'What's that you have there?' she asked while biting the sandwich.

'A vial of morphine.' he said.

'Are you in pain?' Jane took the syringe and inspected it. She wanted to make sure that there wasn't anything weird going on.

'No, but I will be. I plan to have my dinner soon.' he said putting the vial on the tray and looking at the food.

'Oh. You need help?'

'Thank you but no, I know how to do it myself.'

He opened the sealed package that contained the syringe and loaded it with the liquid from the vial. Jane could see that he had already cleaned the area with alcohol, so he just inserted the needle into his skin and released the fluid. Jane took the bag where he had put the syringe and tossed it into the trashcan. Then she made sure that everything was in order and walked towards the door. She heard Bane's voice.

'Miss Sykes.' he said. 'Can I ask you something?'

'Sure.' she said turning around.

'Did you loose someone because of what I did?'

Jane's look went down, she glanced at the floor and then gathered the strength to stare at him again. She could feel the pressure of the tears wanting to go out in her eyes, but they didn't. Instead, her brows furrowed.

'Yes.'

Jane left and closed the door but she didn't say good night this time.


	5. Sadly, That Was Also Part of Her Routine

**A/N: I am not a native English speaker so sorry if there're any grammar/vocabulary mistakes.**

**Opinions and reviews are very much welcomed. I am so amazed by all the support that this story is getting!**

**Thank you for all your nice comments and reviews, they really make my day and inspire me to keep writing.**

**I hope you like this one. Jane's loss will be revealed in the next chapter :O Get ready for some drama. **

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**5. Sadly, That Was Also Part of Her Routine**

The alarm clock started beeping at five a.m. but Jane was already awake. She continued to have those dreams in which she felt everything was back to normal again, in which all those people that had left her came back from wherever they were and they just stood there, looking at each other, happy to know that they were together again. Then something awful happened that kept her from getting closer to them, she screamed and struggled to approach them, but she couldn't. It was usually at that exact moment when she woke up. Then, she always followed the same routine. She had a long warm shower, thought about the day that was about to begin, put her uniform on and then had breakfast alone in the kitchen. Before leaving her home, she always went room by room looking at what was left in them, remembering how it used to be when they were full of life. After that, she cleared her mind from negative thoughts and went out.

By six thirty a.m. she had already parked the car in front of the hospital and was walking through the hall towards the stairs. Once on the sixth floor, she would go into Bane's room to check on him. His wounds seemed to be recuperating quicker than usual. _Maybe because he isn't a usual man._ Doctors had told Jane that it normally took around one month or so for the ribs to heal. Bane's had done it in two weeks and he was already able to do some exercise. Of course, he still felt pain, although he didn't show it, say it or care about it. His collapsed lung had also shown to be working properly and it had almost regained its full strength. That day, when Jane arrived, he was still sleeping. His chest moved rhythmically, he breathed deeply through his mask, producing that special sound that Jane was getting used to hear every day. She found it quite calming because it invited her to breathe just as deeply and it relaxed her brain. She closed her eyes and began to breathe following Bane's rhythm. It was difficult for her because her lungs didn't have such a high capacity but she tried. The door opened and Heather came in. Jane opened her eyes alarmed and pretended that nothing had been interrupted although it didn't come out very nicely because she had never been a good actress. Heather gave her a look and pushed the wheeled tray into the room.

'Good morning, Heather.' Jane said while passing by her side and going out to the corridor. She stood by the window and observed the landscape. The sun was rising and its timid rays of light were beginning to warm up the town. Jane let the sun caress her face, it had been a long time since the last time she had seen it shine that much. She stood under the sun for a few hours, observing the outside of the hospital and the adjoining buildings. At around twelve, her tummy began to grumble.

She pressed the button to call the lift and waited for it. When the door opened she went in and stumbled upon another man, he was rather short and was wearing a white coat so Jane guessed that he was a doctor. They both greeted each other and continued their ways. There had been something weird in that encounter but she didn't quite know what it was, maybe that she had never met any other person apart from Heather on that floor. She looked at the man again while the doors were about to close and then she saw it, a gun, hiding under his white coat. The man stared at her and smiled while he turned to the right, in direction to Bane's room. _Shit, shit, shit, shit. _Jane took her gun and placed it between the small space that was left between the doors, they hadn't finished closing yet. She managed to keep them opened and then ran towards Bane's room. She could distinguish a piece of white cloth disappearing behind the door. Jane raced as fast as she could and followed the man. When she walked in, the doctor was standing next to Bane's bed, aiming at him with the gun. She walked in slowly, ready to shoot.

'Put the weapon down, sir.' Jane said.

'No way I'm doing that, officer. This man deserves to die and you know it.' he replied.

The man was nervous, he was sweaty and his hands were shaky, he clearly hadn't held a gun before. Bane opened his eyes and sat up very slowly. He looked at the man and then glanced at Jane.

'Well, isn't this a nice scene to wake up to!' he exclaimed.

'It is, indeed, this is the last scene that you will see.', the man laughed apathetically and prepared to pull the trigger.

Jane didn't hesitate a second and shot to the man's hands. His gun fell to the floor instantly, surrounded by a puddle of blood. The man was screaming in pain, blaming Jane for protecting Bane and threatening her life. As a police officer she was more than used to it so she just rolled her eyes. Before Jane could have reached the man, Bane had already stood up and was taking him by the neck, rising his body from the floor. The man was short, but he looked even smaller when hanging from Bane's hand. Bane punched his stomach, tossed him to the floor and held his arms behind his back, holding his body with his knee. He pulled from the doctor's hair and bent over towards him. It looked like he was gonna break his neck so Jane hurried up to stop him.

'Don't, Bane, calm…'Jane heard a crack. It was too late.

'Can't a man who's been in bed for a few weeks have a little bit of an entertainment every once in a while?' Bane kicked the lifeless body with his foot.

Jane heard a cry, she looked towards the door and saw Heather. Her face was horrified and her eyes wide open, staring at the dead man on the floor. She turned back slowly, covering her mouth with the hands. She wasn't supposed to be there, she only visited them in the morning. When Jane made eye contact with her, Heather ran away and disappeared. _Great._ Jane locked the room and searched for the nurse. There weren't many places where she could hide and she remembered her favourite spot for keeping out of sight when she felt for slacking off: the toilet. When Jane walked in, she heard some sobbing and sniffing.

'You told that doctor at what time I usually went to have lunch, didn't you?' Jane asked.

'Yes, I did!'

'Why did you do it?' Jane felt a bit sad about the situation. She looked under the doors and saw Heather's feet in the last cubicle.

'You can't see he's evil, can you? No, of course not. You haven't been down there, Jane. You haven't seen all those people who are dying, you haven't seen their families… It's all his fault and look at him, there he is, enjoying his own en suite bedroom, having breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday and being protected by the police.' Jane opened the door and Heather looked at her disgusted.

Jane shook her head showing her disappointment, pulled from Heather's arms, handcuffed her and brought the nurse back to the corridor. Jane opened the door and walked into the room. Bane was sitting on the bed, cleaning the gun that he had picked up from the floor. Jane approached him steadily. Bane looked at her and smiled, his eyes showed it.

'I am not planning to shoot you, if that's what you are wondering.' he said.

'Yeah, good to know. Give me that.' Jane extended her arm demanding the gun. Bane hesitated but finally gave it to her.

'Are you ok?' she asked him.

'Of course.' he laughed. 'I just had the blast of my life.'

Jane rolled her eyes again. She turned on the mini radio on her shoulder and informed about what had happened. After a few seconds, they replied saying that they would send someone to investigate the situation.

'Why did you have to kill him?' Jane asked, 'I had it under control.'

'But he threatened my life, Miss Sykes.' There was a hint of amusement in Bane's voice.

'Well, you just don't go around killing everyone that threatens your life, we'd be all dead by now.'

'Have you ever threatened someone's life, Miss?' Jane wasn't sure if he was mocking at her.

'Of course, I'm a police officer.'

Bane did a strange movement with his neck and snorted. He came back to the bed and sat on it, covering his legs with the sheets. _Smart-ass, _Jane thought. The police would be there soon and if they saw him walking around they would automatically consider him a target and he knew they were dreading to do so. If he was in bed, well, he wouldn't look as intimidating. Jane sighed.

As expected, ten minutes later, two police officers came into the room. They inspected the area and asked Jane about what had happened. Heather was also interrogated but she was too traumatized to say anything reasonable. Jane explained exactly what had happened, she didn't try to defend Bane, she didn't try to modify the facts, she just said the plain truth. _Too many liars live in Gotham already. _The officers insisted on interrogating her about what Bane had done. They demanded her to tell every detail possible hoping that they would find enough evidence to add even more charges to his expedient. When they were done with Jane, they indicated her that James Gordon was waiting for her in the cafeteria and that they would like to question Bane privately. Jane accepted and advised them not to get on his nerves if they didn't want to end up like the doctor.

'I'll be right back.' she said to Bane.

Down in the cafeteria, everyone was gossiping about the incident. Commissioner Gordon was sitting at a table in a corner, he waved at Jane in a friendly manner and invited her to sit.

'Hello, Sykes.' he said, 'I ordered you a coffee, I thought you might need it.'

'Yeah, thank you.' Jane looked at the mug in front of her and took a sip. 'What's gonna happen to Heather, the nurse?'

'The accusation will probably be rejected.' he said plainly. 'But I'm here to inform you about the trial against Bane.'

'When is it, sir?' Jane asked.

'In two weeks. He'll stay here until then, until he's fully recovered. Everyone hates Bane in this place, no one would help him escape, he's isolated. Whereas in prison, well, he'd be idolised.'

'I understand, sir. But I think he could escape if he wanted to. People are afraid of him, no one would try to stop him and even if they tried...' said Jane.

'Are you scared of him, officer?' the Commissioner looked at her over his glasses.

'I was, at the beginning. Now it's just sometimes.' Jane admitted.

'And how are you holding up?'

'I'm fine.' Jane looked away feeling uncomfortable.

'Good. Then I guess I'll go. I have some other things to attend. Have a nice day, Jane, and take care.' he stood up and left a few coins on the table. 'The coffee is on me.'

'Thank you, sir. Have a nice day you too.'

Jane stayed for a while in the cafeteria. It felt to her that the air in that place was fresher and she could enjoy the company of other people, hear their voices, see their faces. The morgue was just too dead. When her mug was empty, she gave the money to the waiter and left. Upstairs, the two police officers were waiting for her, they were standing in front of Bane's room. One of them looked paler than before and seemed to be nervous.

'Everything went alright?' Jane asked.

She didn't get a reply, they gave her the key and left. Jane shook her head and opened the door. Bane was walking up and down, throwing punches to the air. He didn't stop when Jane came in. He was wearing one of those shirts that were kept in the cupboard on the wall_. _

'It's curious, Miss Sykes,' he said, 'I believe that I should thank you for having saved my life again. It's the second time you do it and I'm truly amazed that you continue insisting.'

'It's my job, an assignment, don't thank me.' Jane was angry at him for having killed the doctor.

'Well, a doctor's job is to cure the ailing and this one attempted to execute me!' he laughed.

'Whatever. Your trial will be in two weeks, you'll stay here until then.' Jane opened the door and held the keys in her hand. 'There's a new nurse coming to take care of the food and the clean bandages so you should be ok.' Jane sounded vexed.

Bane stopped moving and remained still. He turned around and faced Jane, approaching her step by step.

'Is that hostility what I detect?' he gazed at her.

'No, what you detect is disappointment.' Jane said.

'Oh. Are you disappointed at me, Miss Sykes?' he talked with that amused tone that Jane was starting to hate.

'No. I'm disappointed at myself because one person died today and it was my fault.'

'No, it wasn't. I killed him.' he sounded like he was proud of it.

'Yeah, well. I wasn't quick enough to stop you. I don't feel for talking, I'll go outside.'

Jane locked the door behind her. Bane resumed his training activities and the day went on. The officer was back to her routine and for some reason it didn't amuse her. She continued to have her walks along the corridor, visiting the cafeteria, standing by the window on the sixth floor or just sitting on the chair. At night, when she left, she usually knocked on the glass of the window.

'You are on your own.', she said to Bane. 'I'll see you tomorrow.'

Bane would usually either ignore her or wave to her from the distance but this time he didn't do any of that. This time he approached the door and stared at her through the glass.

'You shouldn't blame yourself for not stopping me, officer. We both know what would have happened if you tried.'

'Would you have killed me too?' Jane asked.

'Of course not. Who would protect me while I'm in here?'

He was definitely mocking at her and Jane couldn't help but smile.

'You are an asshole, Bane.'

He bowed theatrically and then turned around.

'Good night, Miss Sykes.'

_Good night, yeah, that would be good. _But Jane knew that nights were never good for her, they hadn't been for almost half a year. When she got into her bed she felt lonely, she felt lonelier than ever. She would stare at the ceiling for minutes, waiting to fall asleep soon, but she never did. She turned around and looked at the empty space next to her, caressing the linen with her fingers. When the sheets started to get wet with her tears, she would change place and move to the empty space, holding on tight to the pillow, looking at a photograph that stood on the night table. She always tried to distinguish their faces in the darkness but it was impossible and she felt just like in her dreams, like she would never be able to see their faces again. She always promised herself that she would look at them in the morning, but she never did, she didn't dare to. It was way too painful, but sadly that was also a part of her routine.


	6. It Wasn't Easy, It Isn't Easy

**A/N: I am not a native English speaker so sorry if there're any grammar/vocabulary mistakes.**

**Opinions and reviews are very much welcomed. I am so amazed by all the support that this story is getting!**

*** Ready for some drama? Well, always remember that after a storm comes a calm! **

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**6. It Wasn't Easy, It Isn't Easy.**

When Jane opened the door that day, Bane was standing in front of her, fully dressed. The day before, they had accepted to give him back his clothes, the ones that he was wearing when Jane found him. They had emptied the pockets and washed all of it to make sure that there wasn't anything left in them. The vest was hanging on the chair and a pair of leather boots were hiding under it. He was wearing the rest. Jane scanned him with her eyes while slowly closing the door behind her back. He was standing just a few meters away from her, fists closed. His eyes looked serene, tranquil.

'What's going on? Jane asked.

'I would like to go out, Miss Sykes,' he said, 'just a little walk, like those you do. I don't want to be rude but the size of this room is not very appropriate for my physical requirements.'

'Well, you are in confinement. I can't let you go out and you know it.' Jane straightened her back and looked at him in the eyes. She remembered the conversation that she had had with Commissioner Gordon, that one when she had told him that she only feared Bane sometimes. That was one of those times.

'Well, officer, I was hoping that we could do this in a civilised way, but it seems that you won't allow that to happen.' he walked towards her with a steady pace.

'Bane, stay where you are. Don't make me shoot you.' Jane took out her gun and pointed at him. 'I'll really shoot you if you give one more step.'

Bane stopped right in front of her, his chest touching the gun.

'I don't want to do it, Bane.'

'I know that, Miss.'

Bane twisted her arm and grabbed the gun directly from her hand. Jane's arm was still in one piece but she could feel how Bane was beginning to twist it more and more. She tried to resist the pain and get rid of his grip but the more she moved the more it hurt. Bane remained calm, observing how Jane was struggling to set herself free. He twisted her arm a bit more.

'Alright, alright!' she cried out, 'you can have your walk!'

'That's what I thought.' Bane said while letting her go.

Jane moved her arm carefully, making sure that it wasn't broken.

'But you are obviously not going alone and I'm handcuffing you. You have to understand that,' she said.

'I very well understand that, Miss. ' Bane put his arms behind his back.

Jane was distrustful so she quickly cuffed his hands. She expected him to do some sudden movement and ran away but he didn't and that greatly surprised her.

'Good. There you go.'

Jane opened the door for him and they both stepped outside. Bane inspected everything around him and looked to both sides of the corridor. Jane told him to start walking. She walked behind him, analysing every single movement that he did and telling him where to go. The corridors weren't very crowded and the presence of Bane strolling around frightened away any person that was likely to stay in their way. They analysed his clothing, the way in which he walked and finally they put their eyes upon his mask. They usually stared at it for a few seconds and then they turned around scared. Bane didn't say anything, he just stared back intimidating them even more. They kept walking up and down until, in one of the corridors, Jane felt a cold breeze and saw how Bane turned to look at one of the windows. It was opened and fresh air was coming into the building through it. Jane wondered if he missed the outside but she wasn't sure about it because she had read in the newspapers that he literally had been living in the sewers for weeks.

'You wanna go to the window?' Jane asked. 'A bit of fresh air will do you good.'

Bane nodded and turned to his right. When they reached the window, Jane opened it a bit more and told him that he could approach. He nodded again, gave a few steps and leaned against the window board. Jane did the same and they looked outside. Bane took a deep breath and coughed shortly. Jane patted his back.

'Are you alright?' she asked.

'I am.' he replied observing the landscape.

Jane realised that he was scrutinising the surroundings. He paid special attention to the areas that where still deteriorated, fixing his eyes on the work that people were doing to repair them. He coughed shortly again.

'I thought that the air will do you good and it's making you cough.' Jane said.

'I am a human being, Sykes. I suppose my body is still in the process of recovery, just like this city.' he looked at her and then back to the landscape.

They stood there in silence during a few minutes, until Bane spoke again.

'How did it feel?' he asked, 'How did it feel when the earth shook under your feet?'

Jane tried to remember that day but her thoughts were very confusing. She took her time to reply.

'It was damn scary,' Jane finally said. 'it felt like the earth was literally going to swallow the whole city and that we were all gonna stay under its ruins forever' Jane looked at him, his eyes were fixed in the horizon, they looked serious, contemplative. There were a few more seconds of silence.

'How did it feel for you?' Jane asked.

'Satisfying.' He blinked, as if he had just woken up from some kind of dream, 'it is fascinating how the same event can be perceived in such different ways, isn't it, officer?'

Jane nodded but didn't say anything. _Satisfying._ She looked at him for a while, at the scars on his scalp, at the mask that covered half of his face, and eventually wondered what had driven him to become like that. They left the window a few minutes after, it had started to rain. When they came back to the room, Jane decided that they could stay outside a bit more. She left the door of the room opened, so he would get some clean air to breathe. He was leaning against the wall, looking at the ceiling.

'Do you think there's someone waiting for you outside?' Jane asked him all of a sudden. 'The people that worked for you.'

'I do not know the answer to that question, officer. But I truly hope so.' he smiled. His eyes looked so different when he smiled. 'Is there someone waiting for you outside, Miss Sykes?'

'No, no one.' Jane said.

'Well, it logically doesn't surprise me because as far as I am concerned you spend your entire day inside this building.'

'Yeah, that's true.' Jane laughed. She glanced at her watch. 'I'm getting hungry, let's get you in.'

Jane took the handcuffs off of him and hung them on her belt again. He stretched his arms and cracked his fingers. Jane saw that the food had already being brought into his room so she locked him inside and went out to eat. She looked at him once more through the glass, he was getting another morphine shot before putting away the mask to eat. Jane didn't like to see people in pain and felt how her stomach contracted for a second when she thought about how it would be to live like that, enduring constant pain. It made him look somewhat more human, like he could be vulnerable at some point. Jane left the corridor and went to have lunch. She came back forty-five minutes later with a few newspapers under her arm. She checked that he had finished eating and went in.

'I brought you some newspapers, I thought you might be bored in here.' she handled them to him.

'Thank you.'

He took the newspapers and put them on the bed. He grabbed one of them and started reading while walking around. Jane sat on the edge of the bed, looking through another one.

'It seems that I am not very welcomed in this city anymore, everyone wants to see me dead!' he said amused. 'It is very difficult for me to comprehend why you haven't shot me yet, you would be Gotham's heroine!'

'I'm not that kind of person. I don't enjoy killing people.' Jane said.

'Not even me, Gotham's terror?', he quoted from the headline of the newspaper he was reading.

'No.' Jane started to become anxious and her hands started shaking.

'Why not?' he asked her still looking at the paper. Jane didn't reply. Not a single word came out of her lips but Bane could hear the sound of a few tears falling onto the open pages of the newspaper. He turned around to her, his eyes trying to read what was going on inside her mind. 'Why not, Miss?' he repeated.

Jane moved her head slowly until she managed to look at him in the eyes.

'Because I guess that you have a mother', she sniffed, 'and I wouldn't want her to feel what I'm feeling.'

A few more tears ran down her face. Bane closed the newspaper and approached her, inspecting her as if she were a dying prey.

'Did you…' Bane started talking but Jane interrupted him.

'Yes, Bane, I had a son and you killed him, ' Jane began to cry, she couldn't believe that she had said it, that sentence was the plug that contained the tears into her eyes and now that it was out she couldn't stop crying 'he was so small, just a little baby…' she dried her face with her hands.

'I must apologize then.' he said looking very solemn.

'Oh no, don't you even dare to say that. You said you didn't regret what you had done so don't come now saying that you are sorry because you are not.'

'But you have to understand that I didn't kill him, it was Gotham, Gotham's avarice, dishonesty and greed!'

Jane stood up and walked towards him infuriated, she stared at him in the eyes.

'Look at me in the eyes and tell me that you didn't kill him, tell me that my son didn't die because of you.'

'Well, he didn't. His death was just a sad consequence of a bigger plan to cleanse this city of the unwanted.'

'How can you be so cold and disgusting!' she exclaimed, 'he was only three, like the rest of children that were with him at school! Don't you care about the children? Are they also corrupted criminals?'

Bane grabbed her arm and pulled from her towards his face. His eyes were full of anger, Jane felt that she had said something she shouldn't and regretted it deeply. She looked at him scared, waiting for him to kill her, just like he had done with that doctor.

'I do care about the children', he said slowly with a very serious voice, 'so if I say that I am sorry, then I am.'

He kept pressing her arm, staring at her red eyes. He truly felt sorry for the death of that child but Jane didn't seem to acknowledge it and that enraged him. His eyebrows were furrowed, his eyes staring intensely into hers. He let her go reluctantly and walked away. 'You are stronger than you look, Miss Sykes.' he said taking a deep loud breath.

The next he heard was the sound of the door slamming and the locking of the key. Jane had gone out. Bane broke the newspaper that he was holding and tossed it to the floor. He was seriously angry. He could see Jane through the glass, leaning against the wall. Her eyes were closed and some tears went out of them every now and then, her breathing was fast but she was beginning to calm down. She pulled her hair back and opened her eyes. _William. _She went to the bathroom and washed her face with cold water, it was freezing cold but she didn't mind it, she actually needed it. She looked at her reflection in the mirror and slapped her cheeks slightly. _Don't get stuck now, Jane. Life goes on._ Her eyes closed one last time and she tried to clear her mind. She came back to the room and went in. Bane was moving about like a caged beast, he stopped to look at Jane.

'Listen, I'm sorry I yelled at you, I, I shouldn't have done that. It wasn't very professional.' Jane said staring at the floor.

'Apologies accepted. Now you should learn from this and accept mine.'

'Well, I can accept your apologies but that doesn't mean that I can forgive you.' Jane sighed.

'Who talked about forgiveness?'

His eyes looked so deep and scary to Jane, like they had the power to control her body and mind, to look through whichever lost memory that she had tried to lock inside her brain and take it out. They were the only visible part of his face and it seemed to her that they concentrated all the expressiveness of his whole body. She felt like she couldn't lie to those eyes because they would decode her mind and discover the truth. Jane nodded to him and left the room. She sat down on the chair, her eyes feeling heavy. She leaned back and tried to rest for a while, her brain was tired. That time she dreamt about the sea, she was bathing in it, floating. The voice of a child was calling her, it was William. He was on the shore, together with his father, and they were building a sand castle. Then she found herself helping them build the castle while her son played with some seashells and showed them to her. A wave broke on the shore and destroyed the main wall. She woke up. It was twelve a.m. Bane was standing by the door, his back covered the glass. Jane knocked and he turned around. He was holding the newspapers.

'You wanna have another walk?' she asked.

Bane's eyebrows rose.

'That is very surprising. Have you seen what time it is, Miss Sykes?' Bane said.

'I just, I just don't feel for going home yet, but I understand if you are weary. It's very late.'

'It takes much more than this tiny room to get me tired.'

Jane opened the door and he came out. He was wearing the black pants and the long sleeved shirt but he was barefoot. He didn't seem to mind it. Jane handcuffed him again and they started walking. It was silent, the humming of the ventilation system was the only sound surrounding them, that and the noisy flickering lights. Jane walked behind Bane, ignoring him, she just followed his steps while her feet moved unconsciously. She didn't want to think about which path to take, she just left all that to him. His breathing accompanied her. The air escaping through the mask, his powerful inhaling...

'I'm so tired of this job.' she said. 'I am just so exhausted.' Bane didn't say anything, he let her talk. 'I feel like this is just some kind of performance in which I have to pretend that I can prevent you from escaping but of course I can't and I don't understand why I have to keep doing it. Why don't you just go, be free, good bye.'

'You are indeed very tired, officer.' Bane said. 'Did you bring me with you to let me escape?' he asked.

'No. I just don't want to be alone, not yet.'

'Perhaps because you think about your son when you are alone?' Bane asked stopping to walk by her side.

'I think about him all the time and that's also very tiring.'

'What was the name of the little boy, if I may ask?'

'William.' Jane smiled. Bane nodded.

They found the place where they had been before in the morning and leant against the window board again. Gotham's lights illuminated the sky, making it impossible to see any stars. But Jane didn't mind it, she was used to it. The wind was cold and wet, she could smell the water in the trees and hear some birds jumping from branch to branch. She breathed the fresh air.

'What happened to William's father?' Bane asked, 'I remember quite well your words, no one was waiting for you outside.'

'I don't know. He just took all his things and left, disappeared'

'That doesn't seem very civilised to me.'

'I can't blame him, it wasn't easy. It isn't easy.'

They witnessed how the city went to sleep at night. It took a while for Jane to recover and be able to be all by herself again. She yawned and rubbed her eyes. They came back to Bane's room and she locked him in again.

'Thank you for coming with me.' Jane said through the glass.

'You are welcome, officer.' he replied doing one of his theatrical movements.

'Good night, Bane.'

'Good night, Miss.'


	7. Hurt Me, Jane

**A/N: I am not a native English speaker so sorry if there're any grammar/vocabulary mistakes.**

**Opinions and reviews are very much welcomed. Thank you so so much for your support!**

*** This one is a bit longer but I hope you like it. Teamrosalie21137 asked me about Jane's age so I decided to include that information in this chapter because maybe some of you were wondering the same :)**

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**7. Hurt me, Jane.**

Jane walked through the corridors of the hospital happy to see that the amount of patients affected by the explosions was finally diminishing. The beds had been removed from the main hallway, the emergency room had stopped receiving the massive influx of rescued people and the cafeteria was beginning to reveal spaces that Jane didn't know had existed before. She sat at one of the tables, sipping coffee reflectively, lost in her mind. Inside her brain, blurry images of her son William floated around in a cloud of vague thoughts. Among those thoughts was Bane. She tried to visualize what was happening inside his head, maybe he was grieving the loss of that woman internally, like she was doing for William, maybe he didn't feel as cheerful and content as he seemed. That made her feel sad and not knowing why, Jane began to experience some kind of sympathy towards him. The crying of a child brought her back to reality. It was one of William's classmates, Aaron, and his arm was in plaster. His mother saw Jane, waved at her and approached.

'Jane! It's been such a long time!'

'Hey!'

Jane stood up and gave her a hug, then she bent her knees and dried the tears from the little boy's face. Jane smiled at him and caressed his hair.

'How are you, big boy?'

'Oh, he's much better, Jane. The Doctor said that his arm is healing perfectly ok. You mind if we sit with you?' Alice picked up her son and kissed him.

'No, not at all.'

The waiter brought some hot chocolate for the boy and a coffee for his mom. The child soon calmed down and began to play with the spoon. The two women looked at each other's eyes for a while, Alice knew exactly what Jane had gone through. They weren't friends but their sons had been. William and Aaron used to play together during the breaks and they had celebrated their third birthday together. Alice's eyes became heartbroken when she remembered William's silly games. She didn't need to ask how Jane was because she could already imagine.

'So, I see you are still working for the police, huh?' she forced a smile into her face.

'Yeah. It helps me keep my mind busy.' Jane made a face to Aaron. The kid laughed.

'Of course.' she drank some coffee and helped Aaron with his mug, they seemed to be in a hurry. 'Listen, Jane. If you need something or… someone to talk to, I would be glad to help you.'

'Oh, no, don't worry for me, Alice. You have Aaron to worry about, I'm sure he needs more help than I do.'

'I wouldn't be so sure... Well, you have my number, right? Just give me a call if you feel for it. I have to go, daddy is waiting outside, isn't he, Aaron?'

The child nodded while licking his fingers full of chocolate. Jane's eyes twinkled as she looked at him.

'Yeah, I have to go too. It was nice to see that you are both doing ok. Take care with this little big boy.' Jane poked the kid's nose.

'Good bye, Jane.' Alice sighed and gave her a hug. Her voice was smooth and affectionate, she wanted to say to Jane how sorry she was but knew that it would only add more sadness to the situation. 'It was very nice to see you too. Please, Jane, take care of yourself.'

The woman and her son left the cafeteria and headed towards the street. Jane observed how Aaron was still licking his whole hand. It made her grin. Even though her heart had shrunk when she firstly saw Aaron, meeting him had given a boost to her good mood and Jane walked away slightly smiling on the way to the stairs. The feeling of happiness lasted only for a few minutes, until Jane became envious of Alice and wished that William could have also enjoyed that hot chocolate. She punched the wall on the sixth floor to release part of her rage before facing Bane. _Gone. _Jane walked towards the metal door and distinguished a doctor waiting for her outside. He was carrying some papers with him and seemed to be quite busy and stressed out.

'Officer, I have been waiting for you.' he shook hands with Jane. 'It seems that the police department doesn't hold a hint of the dignity that it had before and some James Gordon has ordered me to check on the patient and grant him medical care. However, I am not willing to go into that room so I would appreciate if you could describe for me the problems that the patient has, if any.' He looked at Jane indifferently.

'Right. Well, doctor, I don't think that it is very decent of you to attack the department that is actually putting lots of efforts into rescuing the people of this city. However, I will ignore that comment.' Jane cleared her throat and stared at him. 'If he is in pain, I don't know because he doesn't say it but I have just observed that the coughing is still there. Apart from that, I would say he's ok.'

'Very well then. So as I suspected, he needs to exercise the damaged lung if he doesn't want it to collapse again. This hospital is still a very respectful institution, unlike the police force, and he has been granted access to the rehabilitation area. We do understand that the room isn't adequate for his actual needs so here you have a pass to the rehab area which is on the ground floor. You may escort him there after nine p.m.. He won't have any medical assistance though, so he is free to do whichever exercise he wishes to do.'

'Right… So, is there anything that he shouldn't do?' Jane took the pass and kept it inside her pocket.

'I believe I wasn't ordered to tell you that, officer.'

Jane grabbed the key to Bane's door and began to break away from the conversation with the doctor. His face was slowly transforming into the stairs wall and Jane was about to punch him in the face. She understood that they were not willing to help Bane but she couldn't stand all the attacks against the police department.

'Well, thank you for everything, sir. I see your work here is done.'

Jane shook hands with him again and turned around, feeling the tension in her fists and the energy in her arms. The doctor left without saying goodbye and took the lift down. Jane opened the door and locked behind her. Bane was standing shirtless in front of the bed, he was looking through some of the equipment that had been brought to him in the wheeled tray. The bandages were gone, his damaged skin was uncovered and the surgical staples were visible. Jane shivered when she saw the scars on his back. It covered his entire spine and went from the upper neck down to the lumbar region. She walked slowly towards him and inspected it more closely. It looked like his spine had been ripped off his body and then implanted back in again.

'I broke my neck,' his metal voice came out in almost a whisper. He was closely reading some instructions, 'it had to be fixed.'

'What about the rest of the spine?'

'Well, it also needed some corrective surgery.'

'Does it hurt?' Jane asked almost wishing to touch the scars that the tens of stitches had left.

'Yes.'

He turned around holding a strange metal instrument and looked at Jane. They were quite close to each other so Jane gave a few steps back. Bane laughed.

'What's that you're holding?' Jane said.

'A special type of tweezers. I suppose this is their way of informing me that it's time to remove the staples soon. But I don't think they are ready yet. What do you think, officer?'

Jane moved closer to him and examined his chest. She just glanced at it because she didn't feel comfortable enough to be so close to him. Especially, when he was shirtless.

'Maybe you should leave them a bit more, just to be sure.'

'Yes. Yes.' he put the tweezers back onto the tray and faced Jane again. He crossed his arms on his chest and reclined against the end of the bed. His blue eyes inspected the woman in front of him, Jane. The thick black winter uniform made her look paler and stronger than she actually was. 'So what brings you here today, Miss?'

'I have good news for you. Doctors think that you need to exercise your lung so it doesn't collapse a second time and they have given me a pass to take you to some rehabilitation center after nine p.m.'

'Have they finally recognised that the proportions of this room don't fit me?' he kept staring at her.

'I guess so.' Jane realiseds that she was being watched when she looked at his face and met his eyes. He had been following her movements. Jane's eyes glanced quickly at his arms, bent over his chest, and then looked into his eyes again. 'Anyway, I have to go and check which way is safest to go.'

'I don't think that is a problem, I believe I can protect myself quite well.'

'Yeah, safest for the patients. I can see that you are an... apex predator, even when wounded.'

'I like that new designation, an apex predator, you just gave me a new title,' the sides of his eyes wrinkled as his cheeks rose, he was smiling, 'thank you.'

'Yeah, you are welcome. I'll come back later to get you to the rehabilitation facility.'

Jane took a last look at him and then left the room. He clearly was a predator and that clearly frightened her. Jane thought about how many hours a day he needed to maintain that musculature in tone and wondered if she could ever achieve that. _Of course not._ She borrowed a map of the hospital in the security office and got help to plan the moving from two men that were working there. They explained to her that the less crowded corridors of the hospital at that time were the passages that connected the different operating areas, which had restricted access. There was no public, and there were only emergency operations going on at night, which meant that it was likely to be less teeming with both doctors and patients. There was just one short corridor that they had to take which was open to the public but they didn't think that it would be a problem. Jane noted down every detail that they told her in the map and after thanking them, she went out to the parking lot. If Bane was going to be walking in areas with more people apart from Jane, he had to be seriously restrained. Jane took a pair of legcuffs from the trunk of the car and came back to the building. She waited outside the room for a few hours, had dinner and then came in to prepare him for the moving. The clanking sound of the legcuffs caught Bane's attention. He had just finished putting on one of the short-sleeved shirts that were kept inside the cupboard on the wall. His eyes followed the metal chains up to Jane's hand and then he focused on her face. Jane walked towards him.

'I know you are not gonna like this but I have to make sure that you don't run away. Turn around and put your hands behind your back, please.'

Bane sighed and did as he was told. Jane handcuffed him.

'I am starting to get tired of this game, Miss.'

'It's not a game.' she knelt down and made sure that the shackles were properly placed around his ankles. 'If you don't like it, go away. I don't think I could stop you.'

'It's not the right time yet.' he turned around and faced Jane.

'And when is that?' she asked.

'Ah. Not such a good try, officer.' he laughed, Jane too.

The guards working in the security office had configured Jane's pass so that it would only work for the specific doors that they had to take. If something happened, they would be controlled. Bane's body seemed even heavier with the sound of the chains accompanying him. The corridors resounded with the stamp of his boots on the marbled floor followed by the jangling of the chains. They soon reached the operating area. They walked along the main corridor, which was surprisingly lonely. Jane's gaze travelled from room to room, trying to identify if there were any people in the area. Bane kept a steady pace, paying no attention to what Jane did, only to what other people could do. He moved to a side of the hallway when a team of orderlies passed by pushing a bed with a patient on it. Jane kept an eye on Bane, whose eyes were following the unconscious man's face. The orderlies glanced at him and then at Jane and kept rushing towards the end of the corridor. Bane stood in silence for a while and then kept walking.

'Did they try to save your son's life?' he asked suddenly.

Jane blinked a few times trying to assimilate the question. She was regretting having told him about William.

'Yes. They tried… for hours.' she said while opening the door leading to the public area.

'It must have been very hard, I suppose.'

'Yes.'

They finally found the rehabilitation facility and they went in. Jane locked it from the inside and passed the card through the reader, as she had been told. The green light on the reader turned red, no one would go in or out without a pass. Bane explored the area with his eyes, waiting for Jane to release him from the chains. She approached him and took the handcuffs off. She was used to deal with big guys in the police station but Bane was, well, a bit bigger than usual. She felt like a miniature when she bent down to unlock the fetters around his ankles. She stood up again.

'Ready. Do whatever you feel for doing, they didn't give me any indications. I'll wait here.', she sat down on a bench.

Bane took a few deep intakes of breath and began moving around throwing punches to the air. After a few minutes, he took his shirt off and tossed it next to Jane. She looked at the white shirt and then back at Bane. She didn't know why she got that impression, but he seemed to be having fun. _Or at least the equivalent of fun in his world._ Jane discovered that he wasn't very fond of exercising machines, he practically took no notice of them. He worked with his body and for his body. Jane tried not to look to much at him but she found his body anatomically interesting. Every time he moved, a new muscle or set of muscles stood out from the rest and Jane made efforts to remember their names, but most of the times she couldn't because she had only seen them in illustrations and that was very different. He finally made use of one of the machines and jumped onto a treadmill that was in front of Jane. He began running and after a few minutes, he talked to her.

'How old are you, Miss?' he asked while changing the settings on the machine.

'Twenty eight, why?' Jane straightened her back and stood up, she was tired of sitting down.

'Have you lived in Gotham during all those years?' he coughed.

'Yeah, each one of them. Are you alright?'

'I am, but you are not. What is wrong with you, officer?' he stepped out of the treadmill and glared at her.

'What do you mean?' Jane started to get nervous.

'Your behaviour remains a mystery to me. I blow up the entire city that you've been living in for years, you blame me for the death of your son, but then you just simply… stay there, asking me if I am alright.' he laughed. 'Don't you think that is a bit strange, Miss Sykes?' his eyebrows furrowed questioning her as he moved closer.

'Well, what do you want me to do about it? It's not like I'm gonna change the past.'

'But you can change the way in which the past is affecting the present. You are full of rage and hate, I can see it because they are so familiar to me. Soon they will start consuming you and then it will be too late to fix it. You need to release them.' He adopted a fighting position, daring Jane to attack him with his eyes.

'Bane, I'm not going to fight you. We both know who will win.'

'It's not about winning, it's about feeling better. I will get something similar to real wrestling, no offense, Miss, and you will gain relief from your burden, I can assure you that.'

'Once again, I am not fighting you.'

'Alright.'

Bane approached her and Jane backed off, but she was too slow for Bane's fist, which impacted into her stomach. It took her breath away and she fell down on her knees covering her abdomen with her arms. She painfully gasped for air, making an effort not to pass out. Bane's fingers clutched her upper arm and forced her to stand. Jane recovered her breath and glared at him. She took her gun out in a burst of rage and aimed at his head. Jane was wheezing but kept her arms firm and still. He nodded, as if he were giving her permission to shoot. But she didn't. She took the magazine out of the gun, held it by the barrel and hit him on his side with the grip. He didn't even flinch. Jane hit him again, this time harder.

'Not enough, officer.'

She took a deep breath of air and remembering the pain of Bane's fist hitting her stomach she began striking him on his. Over and over again, Jane hit him on both sides of his abdomen, trying harder each time, feeling Bane's wall of muscles rejecting the punch. She was weary, her arms were hurting and she needed to catch her breath.

'What are you thinking about, Miss?'

'That punch that you gave me.' she said difficultly.

'That's not enough motivation, physical ache is superficial. Don't be a coward and dare to remember the suffering, the agony that you felt when William died,' he made a pause waiting to see her reaction. She kept looking at the floor, panting noisily, 'or maybe that moment when you realised that you were never going to see his face again. How painful was that?'

Jane felt the anger filling up her body, she wanted him to suffer, to pay for what he had done. She remembered the moment in the cafeteria, her mind tricking her. Instead of Aaron, it was William the one sitting in front of her, playing with the mug, smiling at her faces. It was William's hair that she caressed, William's nose that she poked. _Never going to see his face again._ Bane's words resounded in her brain.

'Very painful', she said after a while.

'So bring it back and hurt me, Jane.'

She reacted at the sound of his voice pronouncing her name and gazed at him.

'Hurt me, Jane.' he repeated.

And Jane did hurt him. She turned around to gain strength and then attacked what seemed to be Bane's only weak point. His mask. She hit him in the face with the grip of the gun, as hard as she could, letting loose some of the tubes that were connected into it. She had seen it on television, the Batman had destroyed him like that. Of course, she couldn't destroy him but she would make sure that he suffered. She struck out at his mask again. Jane had lost control. She was crying out loud, blaming Bane for things he hadn't even done, but she didn't care, she was taking it all out and no one was going to stop her, or so she thought. Bane felt the shivers preceding the pain all along his spine and then it struck him, like a lightning, the burning sensation. That was enough. He held her close with his arm and fixed the tubes of his mask with his free hand. Jane was struggling, trying to hit him again. He tightened his grip around her waist and when he was done with the mask he held her arms with his. Jane could feel his chest on her back, the intense warmth of his body, his metallic breathing.

'I believe we've had enough' he said.

'Let me go.' she shook her arms and legs, 'let me go, now.'

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**A/N: I read an article where they interviewed a real doctor about Bane's scars. He gave his opinion about what could have happened to him to get them. He said that it looked like the corrective surgery they do to repair problems in the spine and neck caused by either deformities or severe injuries. I liked his approach because it was realistic so I decided to include a bit of it in the story. I hope you liked it!**


	8. A Kid, Just a Kid

**A/N: I am not a native English speaker so sorry if there're any grammar/vocabulary mistakes.**

**100 followers! It's unbelievable! Thank you so so so much! **

*** I'm so sorry that it took me more than one week to update. I got a job offer and had to prepare the CV, interview, etc. so I was quite busy. I really apologise and I hope you enjoy this one!**

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**8. A Kid, Just a Kid.**

That day Jane got home very late. She was physically and emotionally drained, her body felt numb and her brain drowsy. She was hoping to go to bed directly after the shower, but the red light of the answering machine wouldn't let her. Someone had left a message, it was James Gordon. 'Hi, Sykes. I hope you are doing fine. The coroner has performed an autopsy on Miranda Tate's body. They found a few items in her clothes that they want you to collect. She has no known relatives alive and Bane is the only person that we can relate her to. They are waiting for you in the lab tomorrow morning. Have a nice evening.' Jane pressed the delete button and went to bed. She didn't have the strength to keep her eyes open and in less than two minutes her mind flew away to the world of dreams, though she didn't remember much of it when she woke up. She calculated that she had only slept for four hours, quite a record compared to what she was used to. The bed sheets felt softer than usual, she stroked them with the palm of her hands, feeling the smooth fabric under the tip of her fingers. It reminded her of something she had dreamt of, but she couldn't remember. _It was probably William's face._ She shut down the alarm clock and got ready to go out.

It was still dark outside and very silent. The morning air was refreshing so Jane let the window of the car opened while she drove, she had always liked to feel the cold breeze on her face because it activated her senses and usually completed her process of waking up. The swallows' song began to sound in the distance as Jane approached the main road. She looked at the sky and distinguished their pointed wings, maybe they were a sign that spring was coming or at least she hoped so. The first lights of the day illuminated the road as she entered the city center, some of the main avenues were still being rebuilt so the rest of the streets were crowded with people hurrying to work and with police officers trying to reestablish the order in traffic. Jane waved at one of them before taking a turn in the next street. The whole building where the forensic laboratory was belonged to the police department, it was built with white bricks and it had dark windows. Jane went in and quickly got directions on where to go. It was a small room with a tiny window that opened to the corridor. There were shelves and shelves with cardboard boxes on them. The man on the other side of the glass gave her a brown envelope with a number on it and the initials 'Tate, M.'.

'What's gonna happen to the corpse?', Jane asked while keeping the envelope in the inside pocket of her jacket.

'It will be stored in the morgue. If no one claims her body within six months it will probably be cremated and buried in some potter's field.' he gave Jane a pen and told her to sign on a list. 'Maybe it's less than six months, you never know. It depends.'

'Yeah, of course. Thank you for the information. Have a nice day.'

'You too, officer.'

Jane smiled at him and came back to the car. She was thinking about that woman's body, stored in some cold and dark place. She didn't feel much sympathy towards her, but she hoped that someone would claim it and give her a proper burial and some nice goodbye. _Or not. _The images of William's burial appeared among her chain of thoughts, then she remembered the previous night and her conversation with Bane. Maybe he was right, perhaps there was something wrong with her and she couldn't see it or react to it. She parked in front of the hospital, bought a coffee and went up to the room. Bane was already awake strapping the mask to the back side of his head. There was an empty plate and a mug on the wheeled tray, he had just eaten. Jane knocked on the door and entered the room. The smell of coffee and toasts was still in the air, she could also distinguish some bacon and scrambled eggs. Jane inhaled with her eyes closed.

'Good morning. It smells good in here.' she told him.

'It certainly was delicious. This is much better than prison, I am really thankful to Gotham for all the consideration that they are showing for me.' he finished tightening the mask, stood up and faced Jane. 'And how was your night? Did our little therapy session make any changes?'

Jane was somehow ashamed of her behaviour, she had let herself go while being on duty and it could have gone wrong, though it didn't. She became embarrassed at her own image trying to hurt Bane, hitting him over and over again without getting any results. She shook her head, her eyes looking at the floor, remembering how pathetic and unprofessional she must have looked.

'There's nothing to be ashamed of!' Bane said, 'I know it is not easy to defeat me.' he laughed.

'It's not…whatever. It won't happen again.' Jane took out the brown envelope and handed it to Bane, 'it's for you. The items that they found in your friend's clothes, Miranda.' Bane looked at her hand. The brightness in his eyes disappeared, they became flat and serious. 'I'm sorry.'

'You already apologised for that.' Bane's eye stared at Jane's face. He still remembered what happened the first day of his hospitalisation. Jane didn't know if it made him feel humiliated because he had been so vulnerable and weak at that moment. He had shown his true emotions, he had cried. Jane tried not to give it much importance and just insisted in handing him the envelope. He finally took the package and opened it. She was intrigued to know what was inside but also wanted to give him some privacy. She knew that people usually got very emotional and sensitive and some of them wanted to be left alone. Slowly and silently, she began to walk towards the door only to be interrupted by the strange sound and feeling of Bane's voice pronouncing her name. 'Jane.' She turned her head to a side and looked at his face. 'There's no need for you to leave.'

Jane nodded and came back to him. She stood in front of the bed, where he was sitting and looked at the brown envelope in his hands. Bane ripped the upper part open and tilted the package. Something shiny fell into his hand, it was a necklace. He inspected it more closely and tried to clean it with his fingers. He remained in the same position during a few seconds, holding the necklace on the palm of his two hands, staring at it. He blinked and looked at Jane.

'I don't want it.' he said giving it back to her. 'You can return it.'

'Why don't you want it?' Jane asked taking it and checking how it looked like. It was a simple silver chain, it had a very small figure attached to it that she couldn't distinguish. Jane brought it closer to her eyes, it looked like a lamb.

'It belongs to the past.' he also gave her the envelope and went to the bathroom. 'It won't let me move on.'

'Well, you have the rest of the day to think about it. I won't return it until tomorrow morning.' He nodded at her and closed the door of the little bathroom. Jane heard how he turned the tap on and the sound of the water running. Jane leaned against the door and took a deep breath. 'If no one claims her, her body will be kept in the morgue of the department during six months, then she will be cremated and buried in a potter's field.' Jane put her ear close to the white wooden door. The water had stopped running. He had heard Jane, but he didn't know what to reply.

'I appreciate that you got that information for me. Thank you.'

'Sure. I'll come back later.'

The noise of the water muted any other sound that could come out of or into the bathroom. Jane wondered if he was crying again, but she didn't think so. She left the room and went to the nurses' resting room. She had remembered that the staples had to be removed and that he was going to need some help. The nurses didn't welcome her very happily, they tried not to look at her and if they did, they didn't even say hello, they just sent a fake smile or nodded bitterly. Jane saw the woman that brought him the wheeled tray. She was sitting on a sofa, watching some program about gardening. Jane didn't know her name because she hadn't had the chance to talk to her, she was much quieter than Heather and didn't enjoy Jane's company. When she saw Jane, she stood up and walked towards a bookshelf, then gave her a thin pamphlet.

'I knew you would come for this. Here you have all the information you need.'

'Oh, thank you so much.' Jane looked through its few pages. There were pictures illustrating how to remove surgical staples step by step, 'so is it the right time to do it?'

'It should be.' the nurse looked away uncomfortably.

'Ok. Well, thank you again. I'll bring it back once he has finished.'

'You can keep it. We have more.'

'Great! So, I'll see you later I suppose.'

The nurse did a strange movement with her head, Jane guessed that was her way of saying goodbye. Right before closing the door, she could hear them whispering and complaining about her. Jane was a bit surprised because it seemed that they were starting to hate her more than they detested Bane, she snorted and shook her head. The walk back to the room was calm and relaxing, Jane's pace was slow, she was reading the instructions and every now and then, she stopped to look at the pictures. It didn't look very complicated. She opened the door of Bane's room, went in and took a look at the items that where on the wheeled tray. The strange tweezers that Bane had been holding the day before turned out to be called staple removers. _Original name. _The bathroom door opened and Bane went out surrounded by a cloud of steam. He was only wearing pants and of course, his mask. He left the door opened and hang a towel on it. Jane perceived the smell of soap, he had showered.

'I'm sorry I didn't knock before coming in. I was just absorbed in the pictures of this pamphlet.' he gave it to Bane and he read through it.

'Do not worry about that.' he stopped looking at the text and focused his eyes on Jane's. 'But I would appreciate if you waited a few minutes to come in next time. I don't have any problems with nudity but it seems you do.'

'I don't have any problems with…' Jane could feel her whole face blushing, 'whatever, there you have the information on how to get those staples out. You think you'll need my help?'

'I don't think that will be necessary.'

He sat on the edge of the bed, his feet reaching the ground, and moved the wheeled tray towards himself. He put on sterile gloves and grabbed a bottle of disinfectant. He poured some of the liquid over the big scar in the middle of his chest and then rubbed with a pad. When it was clean enough he took the strange tweezers and while looking at the picture, attempted to remove the first one. The staple broke under the too high pressure that he was creating onto it and he tried to use his fingers to remove the two remaining pieces. He sighed in annoyance and kept insisting until the two metal pieces fell onto his lap.

'How is it going?' asked Jane stretching her neck to see how the scar looked.

'Well, it is clearly not going like in these images but it is working.' he closed the tweezers a second time to remove another staple and it broke again. One of the punctures began to bleed slightly. He dried the blood with a clean pad, the two halves of the staple fell to the floor. Jane picked them up and put them on the trashcan. She looked at the rest of staples.

'I think that you have to be more gentle. Can I…?' There was a strange short silent. Bane looked into her eyes and Jane stared into his. Reluctantly and slowly, Bane gave her the tweezers. Jane looked closely at the next staple, still feeling a bit uncomfortable about the previous silence. She repeated his actions but was more careful when adding pressure. She pressed little by little until the tweezers were completely closed and then, click, the edges of the staple bent outwards and all of it was out of his skin in one piece and with no bleeding. 'You see?'

'I see.' he inspected the staple and put it on the tray. 'You have experience in dealing with wounds, don't you?'

'Yeah.' she smiled, 'William was a bit too hyperactive sometimes, he got ten stitches on his forehead once and he only trusted me to cure them, not even his dad was allowed to touch them.'

'Smart child.' Bane said.

'Yes, he was.' Jane's eyes got lost somewhere on the plain white wall, her mind filled up with images of her son.

'You can continue if you want to.' Bane straightened his back and made room for Jane in front of him.

'Okey. I'll just… go and wash my hands first.'

Bane waited for her sitting on the bed, he could hear her silently crying in the bathroom. His heart began to pound a bit quicker than usual, he gulped and looked at the floor, not knowing if that was the feeling of guilt. Jane went out with a new smile on her face, but Bane could see through it, she wasn't happy at all. She also put on gloves and he gave her the tweezers afterwards. Bane put his legs together and Jane stood next to him, bending her back a bit to have a clearer view of the wound. She put her left hand onto his bare shoulder to get more stability and began taking out the staples with the other one. She passed them to Bane when they were out and he put them on the tray, her rhythm was quick because she had gotten used to it and in less than five minutes all the staples had been removed. Bane cleaned the scar with the disinfectant liquid once again and thanked Jane.

'You are welcome' she said, 'I think you can take care of the shoulder yourself, it's just stitches.' Jane put all the used pads and the staples into a bag and closed it. 'I'll get rid of this and then go to eat something. See you at night.'

'Yes, I can. Good bye, Jane.'

Jane took a last look at the room and nodded at him. Bane followed her with his eyes until she disappeared behind the door. He wouldn't see her again until passed ten, when Jane came back from the hospital cafeteria with a portion of a bun on her hand. Bane grinned, she saw it in his eyes, they were wrinkled again.

'What makes you so happy?' Jane bit the bun and locked the door with her free hand.

'Your emotional instability.' he stood up and took a look at the bun. 'Are you drowning your sadness in sugar?'

'No, I'm just hungry.' she gave a last bit and the bun was gone. 'I brought you the necklace, did you think about it?'

'I did, but I haven't come with any solution yet. What do you think I should do?'

'You should keep it.'

'Did you keep something from your son?' he leaned against the end of the bed.

'A few toys, pictures and a bracelet.' Jane showed a green bracelet made of string. 'He made it in school.' Bane reached to touch it. 'I suppose you have lost more people in the past, you should know that it is good to remember them.'

'Why do you suppose that?'

'I don't know. Because of your type of life and because no one has phoned to see you.' Jane doubted for a second. 'Was she very important to you?' she dared to ask.

'Yes, but not in the way that you are thinking.'

'Then keep it.' Jane took the envelope out of her pocket and gave it to him. He grabbed it and put it on the chair together with some of his clothes. 'The wound looks good. Maybe you should cover it.' Bane turned around and walked towards her. He was smiling again. 'No, it's not a problem with nudity, I just don't want it to get infected.' she observed it more closely and passed her fingers over some of the scars. The new skin was surprisingly soft and seemed to be healthy.

'Then you shouldn't touch it without gloves.'

'Damn. I'm sorry.' Jane stepped back and looked at him. She took more pads and alcohol from the wheeled tray and cleaned the area that she had touched. Bane observed her entertained.

'It wasn't so harmful, was it?' he said.

'What?' Jane tossed the pad into a plastic bag.

'Touching the skin of another person.' he laughed.

'You could get an infection.' said Jane seriously.

'I don't think so, William survived you after all.'

'But he didn't survive you.' She didn't want to be rude or make him feel guilty, it just came out of her thoughts, uncontrollably, sincerely. 'Sorry, I shouldn't have said that, I'd better go.'

Bane grabbed her arm and stopped her from going. He put his hand around the left side of her neck, his fingers entwined with her hair, his thumb on her cheek. He looked deeply into her eyes.

'Please, forgive me.' he said whispering like it almost hurt him to pronounce those words.

'You ki…'

'Please,' he pressed his fingers against her skin, 'please, Jane.'

'I… I can't do that.' Jane was confused at his behaviour. She stepped back releasing herself from his grip and stared at him. 'You know I can't do that.'

Bane remained in the same position, his hand grasping the air instead of her neck. Jane could still feel the warmth of his fingers on her skin. She brought her hand to the same place where his had been before. The sensation of his skin against hers was familiar, she didn't know why. Then she recalled that same day in the morning, the smooth feeling of the bed linen, the smooth feeling from her dream. It hadn't been William's face. Now she remembered. She felt guilt, anxiety and desperation, her hands began shaking and her pulse increased. Her eyes went all over the room and then stopped at Bane's face. His eyebrows showed his sadness, his eyes almost wet. Those blue eyes, like the ones she had seen in her dream.

'I'm sorry if I hurt you,' he said slowly not knowing what was happening inside Jane's mind.

'No, you didn't. It's okay, but I, I have to leave.' she went out. Her hands were still shaky and she had trouble to lock the door. Bane could hear it and wondered if he had been the cause of her distress. Then he saw her face through the glass, she spread the palm of her hand on it and a few tears ran down her face. She moved her lips and said something to him. 'It wasn't you. I just…' she put her hand away and dried her tears. 'Good night, Bane.'

'Good night, Jane.'

Jane left the building with her head full of thoughts and self affliction. Bane approached the door and looked through the glass. The corridor was empty, the lights were on. He distinguished the print of Jane's hand on the glass, it looked so small compared to his. He placed the tip of his index finger in the middle of it. A kid, just a kid. A lonely tear made its way along his face.

'I'm so sorry, William… I'm so sorry, Jane.' he whispered.

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**A/N: About the necklace with the little lamb: I looked for the meaning of the name 'Talia' and it said 'female lamb' so I thought that it would be appropriate. I am learning so much about medicine with this story. I watched a few videos about removing surgical staples and it was so interesting! **

***Two days left for Bane's trial. What will happen then?**


	9. I'll See You in the Morning

**A/N: I am not a native English speaker so sorry if there're any grammar/vocabulary mistakes.**

****I got an infection in the eye (that hasn't disappeared yet) so I have been quite in pain during this last week. I'm sorry that I couldnt' update before but I didn't feel for writing/doing anything else. I hope you understand and I also hope that you enjoy this chapter! :)**

* * *

**9. I'll See You in the Morning**

'Bane,' Jane shook his arm carefully, her voice was soft, she was afraid of startling him, 'Bane, wake up.'

It was earlier than usual, not even six in the morning, and he wouldn't open his eyes. Jane had received a phone call at five informing her about the new schedule that Bane had to follow that day, the day previous to the trial. She had rushed to the hospital with only an apple inside her stomach and now she felt like the time that she had saved was being wasted by him. She felt envy about his sleeping, so calm and relaxed, like his consciousness was completely clean and free from trouble and worry. She shook his arm once again. His eyes moved quickly under the eyelids, he turned his head to a side and began to open the eyes very slowly. Jane wondered at what time he had fallen asleep. His sleepy blue eyes stared at her full of emptiness, almost groggy.

'Are you awake?' she asked approaching his face and trying to see through his eyes. 'Bane?'

He blinked a few times disoriented, Jane backed away.

'I am.' he murmured still a bit confused, 'I am…' He sat up on the bed, his languid body looked heavier to move now that his mind was just coming back from the world of dreams. His fingers reached his eyes and he rubbed them tiredly, he covered them with the palm of his hands for a while.

'Not a good night?' Jane said.

'Not at all.'

'Too noisy outside?'

'Too noisy inside my head.'

'I understand.' and she did, she had been experiencing that during half a year. 'So, there are a few changes today. The trial is tomorrow and they want you to be completely locked in here before nine, that means that the rehab has been rescheduled and we should be heading to the facilities…' Jane checked her clock, 'about now, there won't be any patients until eight. You'll have a doctor checking you after that and they'll probably send someone to inspect the situation and prepare everything for tomorrow's transfer.'

Bane remained silent.

'What about breakfast?' he asked pretending to be serious. Jane sighed and hid a smile.

'After the doctor has seen you.'

'Everything is in order, then.' he stood up and stretched his body. The size of his torso extended together with his arms and his back crackled. Jane distracted herself playing with the handcuffs in her hands, not wanting to look at him because she was completely sure that her cheeks would blush again. She heard him chuckle and then felt how he put on a shirt. 'Ah, Jane, you won't change, will you?' he laughed again entertained.

Jane put cuffs around his wrists and ankles, ignoring his mockery. She stood up and faced him.

'It's gonna be crowded out there so I don't want any stupid movements, do you understand?'

'I don't think I'm capable of stupidity.' his eyes wrinkled as Jane rolled her own and pushed him to start walking.

When they got into the operation area, Jane reached to touch her gun unconsciously. It was crowded with surgeons, orderlies pushing beds and more people that she could not recognise. Most of them turned to him once they closed the door and appeared in the middle of the corridor. Jane saw how his back stretched, his ego growing inside of him. He moved his head to a side and looked at Jane out of the corner of his eye.

'I think you should be more careful with these people, Jane. They do look slightly irritated.'

'Just keep walking.'

People whispered around them, Jane nodded at a few doctors and assured them that everything was under control, although naturally they didn't seem very convinced about it. The patients that were fully conscious stared at him frightened, holding on to their bed sheets, almost shaking. Some of them were uncontrollably angry and yelled at him, recalling the names of the people that they had lost, asking if he was human, asking if he felt good about it, if he could sleep at night. Probably most of them were there because of the explosions that he had triggered, and Bane knew that very well but he didn't care. Jane sighed and kept walking behind him. Bane's pace was steady and he remembered the way so they reached the room much quicker than the last time. Jane was thankful for that and allowed herself to breathe when she locked the door and the light of the card reader turned red.

Bane followed his routine of exercises and Jane followed her routine of sitting on the bench and walking around. Her stomach was growling and her mind felt slow and a bit dizzy, she hadn't had a good night either. She yawned and leaned against the wall. Bane was running on the treadmill at a quite fast rhythm.

'Is that the sign of a long night?' his voice sounded strong and powerful, his breathing was intense.

'Yes' she yawned again, 'oh, yes.'

She looked at him. She remembered the night before and their last conversation, he also did and knew that she was thinking about it, he could see it in her face, in her grey eyes staring him. She looked away feeling intimidated, it was disturbing to see him running there because it actually looked like that big mass of muscles was moving towards her. When he was done with the exercising, Jane allowed him to use the showers in the facility before coming back to the room, she didn't think that she had much of an option. When he came out he was wearing his shirt again and looked satisfied. They came back to the room following exactly the same way. They received more uncomfortable and frightened looks, more yelling and more arguing, Bane breathed deeply every now and then, annoyed at the situation. Jane kept her eyes open, not sure if some of those surgeons were considering using operation tools on him. Apart from some threatenings, nothing important happened and they reached the room just in time to meet the doctor. It was a different one and he waved at Jane when he saw her. He looked a bit shocked about Bane's appearance and gulped while shaking hands with the woman.

'Hi, I'm doctor Kent.'

'Officer Jane Sykes.'

'So I'm here to certify that he's in good health for the trial, I have to see how his breathing is going, the scars and you know, his general condition.'

'Sure. Would you like to come in?' Jane was doubtful about this one, he definitely looked more brave than the other one but one could never be sure enough.

'Of course.'

The doctor told Bane to take off his shirt and to sit properly on the bed with his back as straight as possible. Jane observed everything with curiosity, wondering what Bane was thinking and if he had ever been to the doctor, to a proper doctor. Doctor Kent seemed to be in a shock, his hands were a bit shaky at the beginning but when Bane actually did as he was told to do, he calmed down. He put the stethoscope on Bane's back and told him to inhale deeply and to release the air normally. The doctor checked a few spots on his back and then moved to his chest. He snorted.

'That sounds like a very strong heart.' Bane simply nodded and continued with his deep inhaling. The doctor told him that he could stop and then he began inspecting the scars. 'Your lungs and heart sound perfectly normal to me, do you feel any pain?'

'No more than the usual' he said. The doctor gulped again and kept looking at the scars.

'Yeah, it looks just fine. I'll send a certificate directly to the central police station.'

'Great, thank you very much.' Jane said shaking his hand again.

'It's just my job,' the doctor turned to Bane and held out his hand, 'good bye, sir.'

Bane stood up and stared at the man, he shook his hand. The doctor and Jane breathed relieved.

'Thank you for your services, doctor.' Bane said formally.

Doctor Kent left and Jane stayed under the doorframe. She saw one of the nurses bringing the tray with his breakfast. Her stomach growled again.

'I'm going to eat something, your breakfast is coming.'

'Excellent.' he shook his arms as if he were getting ready for a feast. Jane was about to lock when she heard his voice again. 'Jane?' he waited until she turned around, 'I feel like my beard growth has reached its maximum extent and it's starting to be a bit uncomfortable.'

'You mean you want to shave?' she said surprised.

'Yes.'

'Alright, I'll see what I can do.'

She tried not to laugh in front of him. _Its maximum extent_. She shook her head amused and left the room. This time she didn't rush with her breakfast, she didn't think that she could stand on her feet during a single second more without anything feeding her body. She hadn't thought about the possibility of Bane wanting to shave but he was a man after all, although her brain didn't seem to accept it yet. She left the money on the table and went to the information desk to ask for directions on where to get razors. She visited the storage room, filled up a form and then left with a razor in her hand. They wanted to have total control of what Bane did or didn't do in the hospital and of course of the items that he had access to, just in case something would happen. When she came back, he was leaning against the door, softly hitting the metal with his fists, Jane could hear it from the outside. She knocked on the door, he moved away and she went in.

'I got your razor.' Jane hesitated for a moment, perhaps it wasn't such a good idea to give him blades.

'I could kill you with my bare hands, I don't need a razor for such a simple task.' he appeared to be reading her mind, he extended his arm and showed the palm of his hand. 'Jane?' he sounded like a father requesting something from his child.

'You're right.' Jane put the razor on his hand. 'But you are not keeping it, I want it back.'

'Thank you.'

He turned around and went to inspect the tray. Jane could see how he got a syringe and a new vial of morphine, he got four a day, one for each meal and another extra just in case he needed it. He took his shirt off and inserted the needle into his skin, right on the lower part of his abdomen. Jane then realised that he had a bruise in that region, probably from all the needling. She approached him slowly, Bane looked at her and then at the purple mark on his skin. He rubbed his fingers against it as if he were trying to erase it and then stared at Jane again. She was about to ask something but she decided to shut up and just looked away from his stomach. His eyes were serious; his eyebrows, flat. He put the empty vial back on the tray and tossed the syringe into a bag. He leaned against the bed and waited for the drug to take effect. Jane moved towards him and sat on the white chair.

'Aren't you tired of it?' she asked with a soft voice, almost wishing that he hadn't heard her. She never really dared to ask him questions because she didn't feel she was in the right position to do so. He moved his head up and his blue eyes met hers. Her heart shrank for a second, she felt scared.

'I am used to it, pain has been my companion for a long time now.' he looked at the clock on the wall and breathed loudly. Jane could feel a sharp pain inside her chest caused by a slight hint of sadness. He raised his left eyebrow and smiled. 'Are you feeling pity for me?' he asked in amusement, 'don't be foolish, Miss.'

'I'm sorry, I can't stand pain myself.'

Jane tried to compose herself, stood up and stretched her legs. She glanced at her watch and began to walk around, staring at the tiles of the floor, following their pattern with her eyes. Only Bane's mechanic breathing and her steps perturbed the silence. One could easily feel isolated inside that room, so empty and white, so full of nothing. Jane tried to imagine how it would feel to sleep there at night all alone with a single glass as a window to the outside world. _Well, he deserves it._ She sighed and stopped walking. There was a short, sharp sound, a click, and then there was silence, complete silence. No steps, no breathing, nothing. Still following the lines between the tiles, she began to turn her head around, scared of looking up. She felt the sharp pain in her chest again, her heart rate increasing. She saw his feet first, then her eyes followed the lines of his legs, covered the length of his torso and finally, she reached his face. He was staring at her from a distance seriously, the mask in his hands, his fingers around it.

'Surprised?' he said drawing a small furtive smile with his lips, the skin of his cheeks folding around them. His face was very expressive but Jane needed to look at his eyes to verify his mood.

'Not really,' she said in an almost inaudible volume, 'you look so normal.' She approached him and inspected his face more closely, trying not to be very rude. She looked up and down, matching his eyes with the rest of new features that had just been uncovered. She felt the impulse to grin but decided not to, although Bane noticed it.

'I wouldn't advise you to laugh at me, Jane.' Bane furrowed his eyebrows, his mouth curved.

'I'm sorry,' she stopped analysing his face and focusing all her attention on his eyes again, she didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable, 'it's just so strange that you don't look that different, it's still you' she wanted to touch his face to check that it was real, that there was actually something under the mask.

'Yes, indeed, it's still me.' He stood up, took the razor and went to the bathroom, he left the door open so Jane followed him and stayed under the doorframe. He used his hands to pour water onto his face and then proceeded to shave. He looked so normal, so human and the fact that he was about to start shaving made him look even more ordinary. She remembered William's father when he did the same in front of the mirror in their bathroom, that scene was just too common for her and Bane didn't fit in it. She stared at him reflecting on the life that she used to have, she missed those familiar moments. Bane's shoulders relaxed, he put his hands on the sink and then turned his eyes towards her annoyed, holding the razor tightly. Jane apologised and left him alone. She waited by the bed, looking at the mask every now and then, trying to figure out how it worked. He came out after a few minutes, his face looked fresher and younger. He handed the razor over to Jane.

'Oh, thanks.' she took it and kept it in one of the pockets of her jacket. Her cellphone rang, it was James Gordon. 'Good afternoon, sir.' she turned around and walked away a few steps to have more privacy.

'Hi, Sykes. I don't have much time so I'll be quick. We are sending two more officers to spend the night in there, I told them that you leave at around twelve so they'll be in time. We'll need you in the morning to help them escort him to the car. Are you ready for that?'

'Yes, sir.'

'Good. He's been granted an attorney for tomorrow, he would like to have a chat with him later today…'

'I don't need a lawyer' Bane stood close to Jane, she jumped scared not knowing that he had been so near , 'I can defend myself.' he walked away from her again.

'Ok, I don't know why but I expected that. Alright, let's see,' Jane heard the sound of papers moving around, 'I'll send some documents by fax that he has to fill up for that, you go and get them and make sure that he signs all of them. I think that's all. I have to go now, Sykes, good luck tomorrow and I'll see you in court.'

'Good bye, sir.' she turned to Bane, 'you'll have some papers to sign later but I really think that you should consider having a lawyer.'

'Lawyers are not fair, why would I trust them?'

'Well, are you fair?'

He crossed his arms over his chest and then brought his right hand to the chin, passing his fingers over it, stroking the skin.

'I believe I am, yes. But you have to consider that _fairness_ is a very subjective term, just like _right _and _wrong_.'

'My mind is not ready for philosophical discussions yet.'

'Are you scared that we will end up talking about your son's death? You have to fight that fear and get over it.'

'You tell me to get over it when you loose your own child.' she turned around and walked away. Bane's steps sounded noisily behind her, he quickly reached her and forced her to face him.

'I raised that woman,' his eyes were infuriated and full of pain, his furrowed eyebrows flinching.

'She wasn't your daughter.'

'I loved her just as much.'

'You liar, piece of shit.' Jane slapped him in the face as hard as she could, she was breathing heavily and the palm of her hand was burning and itching. His cheek reddened slowly as he reached to feel it with his own hand. There was an awkward silence, Jane couldn't stand the pressure of his glaring look so she gave up and looked away. 'I'm sorry.' she mumbled.

Bane grabbed her head with his hand and pressed her cheeks, bringing her face close to his. He leaned over her and softly put his lips close to her ear. Jane could feel his cheek against hers, his warm breathing on her hair. He whispered something.

'I know you are not.'

She shook her head with disdain to release her face from his grip. He held her tight for a few seconds and then let her go. Someone knocked on the door. Jane quickly straightened her uniform and went to open. It was one of the women that worked at the information desk, she handed some papers to Jane and after taking a look at Bane over Jane's shoulder, she left. Bane was sitting on the edge of the bed, his arms crossed, the mask laying behind him. Jane took a pen from one of the pockets of her jacket and gave it to Bane together with the papers. He read them thoroughly playing with the pen in his hands.

'You have to sign here, here, here and here.' Jane turned the pages as she spoke, pointing at some spaces between paragraphs. Her voice was very soft, she was scared of bringing back their previous conversation and wanted to make sure that he understood she wanted to ignore it. He stared at her during a few seconds and accepted the truce. Then, he drew a simple check mark on all of the spaces. 'Don't you have a signature?' Jane asked sitting next to him comfortably and looking through the pages that he was holding.

'I've never needed one.'

'Write your initials then.' Jane told him. He wrote a _B. _next to each check mark. 'Don't you have a surname?'

'You may call me Mr. Bane.' he turned his head towards her, his face crinkled up in a smile.

Jane took the papers from his hands trying really hard not to smile and then she put them on the bed, next to the mask. She instantly looked at the clock.

'How long does the morphine last?'

'About three hours for my size,' he also glanced at the clock, 'quite an effective opiate drug, isn't it?'

'I suppose.' she took a deep breath and stood up, taking the papers with her. 'I have to send these back and then I'll have lunch. I'll also get rid of the razor.' she looked at his unmasked face, examining it again, 'it was a pleasure to meet your face, say goodbye from me when you put that thing back on again.'

'Surely, I will.' he said while rubbing his cheeks. Jane smiled to him and closed the door.

She waited next to the information desk for a few minutes before they could send the fax to the police station. She remembered Bane crying on the floor and the feeling of the tears running through her fingers while she held his face. She regretted calling him a liar, but didn't regret the slap, that had felt like glory. She wrote the fax number on a paper for the lady working at the desk. She didn't understand how he could love that woman and be willing to let her kill herself with a nuclear bomb. Maybe he hadn't cared because he would also die, he wouldn't suffer her loss, he wouldn't suffer anything, actually. Perhaps, he wasn't that brave and emotionally strong, maybe he was just a coward that would prefer to die rather than to endure the loss of a loved one. Then she remembered all the times that she had repeated 'I want to go with him' in tears when William had died, and all the times that she had considered dying to achieve it. Bane might have actually felt the same way when that nuclear bomb was about to explode. She dropped a few coins after paying for the food and two newspapers.

'I'm sorry, ma'am.'

'That's okay, sweetie.' the lady picked up the coins and warmly smiled at her.

Jane came back to the room, she gave him one of the newspapers as an apology for the slap and then went out to read hers. There were news about the trial everywhere, people asked for a death sentence, some others for life imprisonment. Jane thought that it hadn't been a good idea to give him the paper, she went in. He had the mask on again.

'So… are you ready for the trial?' she closed the paper and rolled it.

'Gotham clearly is.' he chuckled while turning a page. 'What would your sentence be, Jane?'

'Probably, life imprisonment and social work.'

'Social work?' he rose one of his eyebrows.

'Yes, helping the children that got injured. Then you would know the reality of what you did.'

'I think I know the reality of what I did very well. Don't you think I am aware of what a series of explosions can cause? Don't you think I planned it so it would cause the greatest damage possible? It wouldn't affect me to see that, Jane, I would be glad to do so. It would be like a sightseeing tour!'

There was a silence.

'You're hopeless.'

'So I have been told before.'

He smiled at her and made a gesture with his hand, as if he were bowing. Jane sighed and opened her paper again. They kept reading in silence until night. At eleven thirty, the two officers knocked on the door and indicated Jane that she could go home for the day. She picked up her jacket and backpack and got ready to go.

'Sleep well tonight, you have a long day ahead tomorrow.'

'You too.'

'I'll see you in the morning.'

'Good bye, Jane.' he fixed his eyes on her during a few seconds, making her feel uncomfortable. She smiled at him and waved her hand. Bane's eyes wrinkled again, but this time he was grinning. 'Good bye.'

...

It was four a.m. when the telephone rang. Jane woke up startled, her heart pounding quickly.

'Who's this?'

She heard James Gordon's voice.

'He's escaped, Sykes. He's gone.'

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**A/N: If you don't remember Bane crying on the floor, go to chapter 3 when he heard about Talia's death! :D **

**-Things that I have learnt while writing this chapter: how morphine works!**


	10. Her Heart Stopped Pounding

**A/N: I am not a native English speaker so sorry if there're any grammar/vocabulary mistakes.**

****College has begun and I have so much to do already! However, I'll save time to keep working on this. I have finished the storyline and I can't wait to publish more! :D**

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**10. Her Heart Stopped Pounding**

The main entrance to the hospital was completely full of journalists, cameras and police officers trying to maintain the previous order and forcing them to clear out the area so that patients could go in and out of the building normally. Jane glanced at her clock, news spread fast. It was barely quarter to five in the morning and James Gordon had phoned her at four, within forty-five minutes the news about Bane's escape had propagated all around town. Jane drove to the parking entrance for cars, happy to avoid the hungry media crowd. She had to show her police badge to a fellow officer before being able to get into the parking lot, it was good that they had reacted so quickly. Jane took the lift to the sixth floor and looked at her reflection in the mirror. She was angry at herself for not seeing it coming. At that moment, it seemed so obvious to her that Bane was not going to go through a trial, that he was going to escape, that he was not made to be imprisoned, but she had not seen it coming, she had not expected it, she had ended up somewhat trusting him. She was disappointed at him and felt utterly stupid for feeling that way. The doors opened behind her and Jane stepped out.

The first thing that caught her attention was the blood on the walls, it was not much, but the contrast that it made with the white tiles struck her sight. Someone was cleaning the floor, the water dripping from the mop into the bucket was reddish. James Gordon was standing next to the window at the end of the corridor, he was talking to another officer and they were both looking out. Jane realised that there was broken glass everywhere, on the floor by the door to the room and by the window. When she stopped to look at the door, she realised that there was actually no door under the doorframe. The giant piece of metal was standing against the wall, as if it had been carefully placed in that position. It felt like she was on the wrong floor, like that could not be happening. James Gordon's hand patted her shoulder.

'Hi, Sykes. I'm going to see what the security cams caught, come with me.'

'Sure.' Jane followed him, 'what happened to the two men?' she asked still remembering the sight of the blood.

'They got shot. The nurse found them lying on the floor, they were both unconscious. They have been taken to intensive care.' he sighed and passed his hands through his hair, 'we have to find him, Sykes. We have to.'

'Was it him? Did Bane shoot them?'

'We don't know yet.'

Jane nodded and kept walking. During just one second, she hoped that the Batman would find Bane and everything would come back to normal again, but then she remembered the intense light in the horizon, the explosion, that black aircraft flying towards the heart of the ocean. She felt shivers going down her spine. _We are all alone in this one. _Her shaky fingers reached to touch the green bracelet on her wrist while inhaling deeply to calm herself down. Commissioner Gordon opened the door to the security office and went in. There were a few screens showing different parts of the hospital, the central one showed the image of the corridor where Bane's room was. But it was all empty, no blood, no glass, no people, just the two officers.

'Play it from the point when officer Sykes left.'

The image was rewinded and Jane could see herself going out of the room and waving at the inside. She remembered Bane's grin and his eyes fixed on her face when she had said goodbye to him. After she had left, the two policemen had began to talk to each other. There was no sound but the movement of their bodies clearly showed it. The video was fast-forwarded until the two men stopped talking and looked at the lift at the same time. They both took their guns and pointed at the doors. They must have heard something strange or else they would not have been so aggressive from the beginning. There was an intense flash light, the two men brought their hands to their heads and kneeled on the floor, they looked dizzy and unstable. _Stun grenade._ Two other men dressed in military garments ran out of the lift and quickly shot at the officers. They took their weapons and dragged their injured bodies away from the door. One of them began to put something around the door, it looked like explosives, and the other one worked on the window. It was not very clear what they were doing because their backs covered their arms and hands. After half a minute, both of them joined the police officers, one pressed a button and the doorframe trembled. The metal door began to float in the air and then Bane's arms appeared around it. He placed it against the wall while one of the other men handed him some kind of belt. He put it on and walked towards the window. After looking out, he turned around, stared straight into the camera and… bowed. Jane gritted her teeth and closed her fists.

'Son of a bitch', Commissioner Gordon whispered.

Bane turned around, jumped onto the window board and disappeared followed by the other two men.

'Show me the outside.'

'This is the only camera that got something, sir.' The image changed and now Jane was looking at the entrance of the parking lot. A white van passed by at a rather high speed, that was all. 'The van had been parked in front of the emergency entrance during the whole day. It showed in the cameras but we thought that they were doing some maintenance work. Of course we didn't imagine that it …'

'There is a van parked right under his window and you ignore it?' James Gordon hit the table with the palm of his hand. 'You can't make those mistakes when there is a prisoner in the building! You must check everything, everything!'

James Gordon glared into the man's face and left the room without saying anything else. Jane went out after him. He was drying the sweat from his forehead with a piece of cloth and had trouble to put it back into his pocket. He looked at Jane when she went out.

'This is gonna be a manhunt, Sykes. I'm gonna have all the units available out there searching for that bastard and we are gonna get him, dead or alive,' he looked around restless and focused on Jane again, putting his glasses back in place, 'the media has already received orders to broadcast his face all over the place, someone must have seen him somewhere, he can't go unnoticed.'

'Is there something I can do, sir?' Jane asked.

'Yes, yes. There is a general meeting with the team leaders at the station. I want you there to talk to them about him, about Bane. You are the one most familiar with his behaviour, you've been talking to him, you must have grabbed something about his personality. Think about it, about everything that he told you and turn it against him. I'll see you there in an hour.'

'Yes, sir.'

He left her alone, standing there, in the middle of the white corridor, her limbs were blocked; her brain, clogged. She had replied automatically, not really thinking about what she had to do, but now she was starting to digest the information. _Turn it against him. _Well, that was not going to be easy. She touched the green bracelet again and breathed in, she could not let her thoughts fly away, they must be controlled. As if it were a ritual, she went to the bathroom and washed her face with cold water. A part of her conscience blamed her for what had happened, she should have stayed there during the whole night, security should have been increased within the building, maybe he should have been moved to another room, there were so many things that she should have done and she hadn't… like letting William stay at home that morning. He had been crying because he didn't want to go to school, he wanted to keep playing with his new toys and Jane had finally managed to convince him telling him that he would have enough time to play when he came back. But he never came back and the toys had stayed on the floor of his room ever since. Untouched. Jane slapped herself in the face and poured more cold water onto her face. _Keep it together now. _

She left the hospital a few minutes later and drove to the central police station. She parked in front of the building and waited inside the car, thinking about what to tell the team leaders. There wasn't any feasible way of defeating Bane, not if you were alone at least. She took paper and pen and started to note down what she considered to be important, even though deep inside she really knew that none of the police officers stood a chance against him. Her whole body felt itchy and sweaty, Bane could be anywhere by now. _Shit. _The radio of the car started to transmit information, they had found the white van, it had been burnt and abandoned in Saint Mary's Park. That was considerably close to the Narrows, but Jane didn't think that he was so stupid, the Narrows would surely be the first area that the police would scrutinize, if they hadn't done so yet. _Where the hell are you going? _Jane looked outside the window, the building seemed to be deserted, there was only some movement on the second floor. Surely the number of officers had been reduced after the explosions and the surviving ones that hadn't quit were overloaded with work. When her sight came down to the ground floor again, James Gordon was gesturing in her direction, indicating her to follow him. She went out of the car and ran after him.

The room was completely full and everyone went silent when the Commissioner stood in front of them. He assigned a different sector of the town to each one of them and gave strict orders to shoot at whoever tried to get in the way of catching Bane. Jane gulped and took a last glance at her paper. She stepped in front of her workmates and faced them, almost feeling the burning sensation of their stares on her skin. James Gordon briefly introduced her and then sat down on a side.

'Ok, so, let's see,' there were a few coughs, 'I think that the first thing that you should be aware of and admit is that none of us stands a chance against him. I would recommend you to gather a small group if you find him, do not try to be a hero approaching him all by yourselves because you will fail. If possible, immobilise him from a distance, shoot him in the legs or arms, wherever you need to aim so he is incapable of standing up in a fight,' the image of Bane's bloody body lying on the ground hit her brain, her stomach felt ill; her conscience, wrong. But he had escaped, he needed to be restrained and judged, he had to pay for what he had done. She remembered the security tape and his bowing, her fists tensed as she kept talking, 'the mask that he wears keeps him from feeling a really intense pain, so if you have the chance and have no other way of stopping him, make sure that you take that thing off and he will be crying on the floor like a baby,' some of them smiled and noted things down, 'if you are in a public area and there are civilians around, bring his attention to the children, to the damages that they could suffer, he showed some kind of weakness when mentioning the death of, yeah, children during the explosions,' _William, _'and finally and most important, do not fool yourselves trying to fool him. He's smart, intelligent and quick and he will probably feel insulted if you try to get into his thoughts. Good luck out there.'

There was a short rumble and in less than five minutes the room became empty again. Pictures of Bane and his closest followers were hanging on a whiteboard on the wall, there were red lines connecting them to each other, pointing at the last parts of the town where they had been last seen. It was a complete mess, they seemed to be all over, following no pattern, it was just chaotic. There was also a picture of Miranda Tate. Jane had forgotten to mention her but well, she was dead, so there weren't many ways of using her. She went out and met James Gordon.

'Sir, I just remembered that Miranda Tate's body is still in the morgue. I informed Bane about the plans to dispose of her within six months, I don't know if he will try to go and take the corpse to give it a proper burial, but maybe we should have someone watching the place, just in case.'

'Yes, it could be possible, although I don't think he's the type of person who would worry for a corpse. But I'll have someone sent there for the following weeks. Thank you, Sykes. Now, go home and rest.'

'Sir, I would like to participate in the search.' she walked after him.

'No, no, Jane. This has been enough for you already. We are not as many as before but all the areas are covered. If you insist on not taking that personal time off, I'll give you some other assignment tomorrow but, please, now go home and sleep.'

Jane sighed and nodded.

'Yes, sir.'

When she finally got home it was almost eight in the morning. The small garden in front of her house was full of weed covering the colorful flowers that had been planted a year ago. It needed serious cleaning and maybe it would be a good activity to keep her mind busy. She left her jacket on a chair, walked towards her room and fell onto the bed. It was still unmade so she rolled under the sheets and covered herself. Her eyelids became heavier than ever, her thoughts were completely chaotic and she couldn't stop wondering about Bane's location and worrying that he might try to destroy the city again. Her brain was burning down with so much information and so many emotions linked to one another, there were images of Bane being shot and dying, William calling for her, the blood on the walls, the needle being inserted into Bane's skin, the staples, the stitches, William's face, Bane's face, the mask… she fell asleep.

The sound of a car woke her up. It was very dark and the lights of the car slipped into her room through the curtains. Her neighbour was parking, he had came back from work. Jane opened her eyes and checked the time, nine at night. The first thing she thought of was Bane, she wondered if they had caught him yet. The floor was cold under her feet, her brain felt lighter but still slightly confused. She had a shower and sat on the sofa in the living room to watch some news. There was an image of one of the temporary bridges that had been built to connect two of the islands. Then it changed to a woman talking about him, Bane. '…anyone that aids him will be charged with his same crimes. He was last seen in Sullivan's Street after abandoning the vehicle in which he escaped from Gotham's General Hospital. We remind you that he is not alone and that you should not confront the suspect….' So they hadn't found him yet. _Great. _There was a knock on the door. Jane put her slippers on and walked towards the door. She could see the light coming from the neighbours' house through the windows, they were probably going to check if she was alright. They were nice people, they had brought her food when William was in the hospital and had taken care of their post while they were away. She pulled her hair back and opened the door with a smile on her face. Black leather boots, army pants, brown vest.

'Good evening, Jane. I reckon you are looking for me.'

Her heart stopped pounding, his eyes got wrinkly.

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**A/N: ****-Things that I have learnt while writing this chapter: what to do when an inmate escapes!**


	11. I Know Tomorrow

**A/N: I am not a native English speaker so sorry if there're any grammar/vocabulary mistakes.**

****Two months since the last update... I really must apologise. I have received several PMs asking about the story and I want to write here that I haven't forgotten about it! College is taking most of my time and I moved to my very own apartment so of course I don't have all the free time that I had before.  
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****Thank you so so much to all the people that sent me PMs asking about Regeneration. It motivated me to keep writing and I finally managed to get some time for it :)  
**

****It also took me so long because I found this chapter extremely hard to write. I didn't want to upload whatever that came out of my keyboard so I took a few days extra to re-read and modify. I really hope you guys enjoy it =)  
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**11. I know. Tomorrow. **

Bane was standing under the doorframe, looking at Jane with those eyes that made her shiver. The seconds that came after felt like hours for her, she considered a large number of reasons why he would have come back to her and none of them were particularly positive. She heard him sigh but did not react to it, actually no part of her body would react to anything in that exact moment. Bane pushed her away from the door carefully and then came in as if he had been there before, as if he were home, although this home looked ridiculously small compared to his size. With a quick movement, he turned around and locked the door. Jane panicked but did not move, she just stared at him with her eyes wide open and her mouth half shut. Bane walked to her and smiled.

'We don't want anyone dangerous breaking in, do we? God knows how many criminals are roaming free in Gotham these days.' His eyes twinkled. Jane turned her head towards the telephone, it was only a few meters away from her, maybe she could reach it if she was quick and sudden. 'Oh, don't even try, Jane. There's no line.'

But she didn't care about what he said and desperately ran to the end table next to the sofa. When she picked up the phone, a tiny hint of hope shone in her eyes just to quickly disappear after realising that there wasn't line, indeed. All of a sudden, Jane thought of her neighbours. If she screamed they would hear her but then they would also be in danger and Bane was likely to attack her. No, she had to calm down and think. _Think, Jane. _She looked at his body and was relieved to see that he was not carrying any weapons, at least visible ones. But then again, he didn't need any weapons to kill her, or anyone else. He began to move, stamping his boots on the wooden floor, making her tremble with every step he gave. His bright eyes moved around the place, looking at the pictures hanging on the walls, glancing at the kitchen through the flat arch and controlling Jane every now and then.

'Do you mind if I have a little tour?' he said looking at the corridor that led to the rooms. When no reply got to his ears he turned to Jane and talked again, 'do not fear me, Jane. It will be over soon.' his eyebrows stretched, he looked sad. Jane gulped and shook her head.

'I don't mind.' her voice came out almost inaudible, more as a question than as a statement.

She turned on the light in the corridor and followed him as his feet got off the ground again. His huge body blocked her sight so that she could not see a thing past him, he was leading the way and she merely followed, scared. Every time he took one more step Jane felt as if the whole house were trembling, the vibrations reaching her body, making her quiver with terror. The wooden floor cracked under his feet once more as he stopped to glance inside the bathroom. Jane looked at the exact point where the timber had creaked. Her brain tricked her for a second and she thought she could hear William's quick steps, running up and down that corridor, the same corridor where his murderer was standing now. Her heart ached. Bane had taken everything from her and now he was also taking her house, invading it with his presence, destroying that false sense of stability that Jane had built inside that now empty space. An empty space, that is what it had become. William was not going to stick his head out of his room wondering who was walking towards the door, his father was not going to try to stop the intruder from reaching their son. It was just her and Bane. She dried her tears with the palm of her hands and then crossed her arms covering her chest, trying to calm the pain that was growing inside of it. Bane reached the point where Jane's imagination had placed William's face and then he opened the door. It was dark at the beginning, but then the light went on and Bane's face shone under its brightness. He stepped in slowly, looking around as if he were in a museum, paying attention to every detail, sniffing the air. He stood in the middle of the room during a few seconds without touching anything, just observing. He approached one of the shelves and stretched his fingers to touch some wooden toys that were standing in a straight line.

'No,' Jane's weak voice interrupted him. He quickly turned his head around. He hadn't expected any sound coming from her, 'please, don't… touch them.' Her eyes watered and her arms grew tighter around her chest. Bane stepped back carefully, trying not to startle her.

'I apologise.' he said. Jane nodded drying her tears again and took a deep breath that sounded more like a sigh. Bane remained still, only moving his neck to keep analysing the room. The bed was still unmade, there were tissues on the night table and a little red lamp with blue spots illuminated that side of the room in quite an enchanting way. 'Do you sleep here?' he asked turning his eyes back to her.

'Just sometimes.' Jane replied, 'I'm… I'm scared of forgetting him.' she caressed one of the drawings hanging on the walls. Bane met her under the doorframe and stood close to her.

'You won't,' Jane was too scared to meet his eyes but forced herself to be brave and look at him. She could feel he was inspecting her emotional state with his sight, travelling inside her brain. She felt weak, exposed. 'I don't think a mother could ever forget her child.'

He stared at her silently during a few seconds, expecting some kind of response, but then he realised that her mind had left the conversation and was being invaded by thoughts of her son again. Usually, it was difficult to read her facial expressions, she seemed to have created a thick barrier against the outside world and it worked quite well, that is why he needed to stare at her, to break it. But when she thought about William, that was another story, so easy to spot. Her grey eyes turned into clouds, blinding her sight, taking her mind to some other world where none of that tragedy had happened, where she cradled William and laughed with his father. Bane felt that weird sting of what he had identified as guilt and felt forced to look away. But he did not. He was too proud to do so. Jane blinked and lowered her sight, his eyes were released and he left the room. Jane remained still for a while, coming back to reality, and then she followed Bane.

The door to her room was open, he went in. Both sides of the bed were unmade and there was a slight scent of soap coming from the bathroom. Jane observed how he passed his fingers through the furniture and it almost hurt her. She did not want him touching anything inside that house, her precious privacy was being broken with each centimeter that he touched and her brain could not help but think that he would destroy the house in the same way that he had destroyed its inhabitants. Bane stopped in front of a frame with a photograph of Jane holding a little boy in her arms in it. He had dark hair and bright eyes and was smiling at the camera while Jane looked at his face, stroking his hair. Bane picked up the frame and looked at it closely, as if it were some kind of relic from the past. Jane took one step back, he did not react. She took another one, he put his finger on the glass of the frame. The corridor seemed longer than ever as she tiptoed silently towards the living room. The telephone might not have line, but her cellphone did. She only needed three numbers and three words. _911, Bane is here. _She ran to her jacket and took the cellphone. Her hands were shaky as she began to move away from the corridor and started to dial the numbers. Three numbers and three words. She did not even have time to pronounce the first one; Bane's hand appeared in the way of her sight and her phone covering all of it, including her own hand. She pulled back, he did not let go. Bane pushed her against the wall and opened her hand with his fingers to take the cellphone. He dropped it on the floor and stepped on it. His fingers were tense around her neck, his leg pressing hers against the bricks. He used his thumb to push her chin up and made her look at him.

'I could easily break your little neck right now.' Jane felt naked under his glare so she tried to look away, but every time her eyes moved from his, he would put more pressure on her neck and forced her to look at him. 'I can smell your fear, Jane.'

'I am not scared.' she said in a burst of both dignity and pride.

Bane pulled himself closer to her, she felt his left hand holding her waist, part of his palm directly in contact with her skin. She shivered, tried to punch him, kick him and escape, but all that came out was a gasp of air when Bane closed his fist and blocked the scarce circulation of air that was flowing through her throat.

'Are you not?' his chest leaned against hers, 'is that so?' his leg made its way between her thighs. His face advanced towards hers slowly, the breathing becoming noisier and noisier as the mask approached her face. Jane bent her neck to a side, he corrected her back. His face was so close to hers she could not even reason what was happening. The warm air coming out of the mask caressed her lips as he breathed, giving him a tiny hint of humanity that Jane thought he did not have. Warmth, what her life had lost; he had it, he had stolen it from her. He should be cold, heartless and inhumane, but he was not. His skin was warm against hers, his heart beats protruded on his neck, his blue eyes shone as they looked into hers, and all that came as a realisation to Jane: he was human, so he could be killed. Jane's knee impacted against his crotch, he groaned and swayed slightly on his feet as if he were about to fall, and Jane took that moment as a chance to sneak out between his arms. However, she was able to give only a few steps before his hands grabbed her arms again. They both stumbled upon the opposite wall and none of them made an effort to stop the knock.

'Hurt me!' she cried, 'I can only feel pain now, just hurt me so I know I'm still alive!'

'I didn't come here to hurt you, Jane.' he said regaining his breath and holding her shoulders.

'Then, why are you here? You bastard son of a bitch!' she attempted to punch his chest, but Bane's grip was strong.

'I came to kill you,' he lowered his voice and tried to catch her sight, 'so you would not suffer anymore, so you would finally rest,' his thumb stroked her cheek.

'Why don't you do it?' Jane moved her head away from his touch.

'Because I have realised that no one will remember William like you do if I end your life,' he made a pause, not sure about what he was going to say next, 'and Gotham needs to remember what they lost, otherwise all my tries to purge this town would have been in vain.'

Jane looked at him infuriated and breathing heavily.

'So all this is just about you again? You don't give a shit about my son! You don't give a shit about anyone but yourself!' her eyes watered, the salty tears falling smoothly on his hand.

'I do.'

'You don't!' she looked away restless, not knowing where to place her sight upon. Every single thing in that house reminded her of all she had lost, all that had gone away. 'I miss him…' she cried, 'I miss him so much,' her body finally gave up the fight and fell lifeless on Bane's arms. He felt the weigh on his shoulders and held her in place, 'kill me please, I can't do it myself, I'm not brave enough, kill me, please.' her head sank onto his shoulder, her eyes shut.

Bane heard her sob, he could feel her face moving every time that she stopped to breath, her cheeks trembling as she tried to hold back the tears which were reaching his skin through the fabrics of his shirt. The burning sensation grew bigger inside his chest, he began to feel caged, anxious and restless, he needed an exit. Bane dropped her body and stepped back from her. She looked so pathetic, like a moribund animal paralysed by the fear. He turned around ready to leave.

'Don't you dare to leave me like this.' Jane stood on her feet again and using the wall as a support, she managed to regain the position, 'finish what you've come to do, go on, do it.'

'I said no.'

'Do it.' Bane began to walk away, 'do it!'

His feet stopped moving and his neck began to bend slowly, his eyes fixed on hers. Jane shivered and hit the wall with her back, her hands feeling the rugged texture of the bricks. She breathed in deeply and nodded, challenging him. Bane reached her quickly, his hands travelling to her neck, lifting her feet off the ground and pressing as hard as he could. Jane began to choke instantly, he would only need three or four seconds to knock her out, a few more to kill her, or maybe he could just break her neck, it would be quicker, she would not suffer, it was so easy. One. He kept pressing, three more and her brain would be damaged if he decided to stop, but he was not going to do so. Two. Her hands covered his, she was freezing cold because of all the sobbing. Three. Her stare fell upon his. Four. He removed his hands. Five. He held her close.

'No…' Jane coughed trying to catch her breath, '... why?'

'Because I said no.'

'I only wanted to be happy.' Jane realised that it was Bane's chest pressing against her cheek, his heart was beating fast but his breathing was untroubled. She tried to adapt to it and began to take deep intakes of air imitating the movement of his chest.

'Stay silent and keep breathing.' he said.

'I don-'

'Shut. Up.' his torso expanded as he tried to calm himself down too, 'and breathe.'

Bane's heart pounded slower, it was relaxing to listen to it, it reminded her of safety, she did not know why. Maybe because every time that she had hugged her husband she had felt safe. Her arms stretched out and surrounded his body in an attempt to feel that way again, like nothing would happen to her, like happiness was still a feasible possibility. Bane's back stiffened as her fingers stroked the fabric of his vest, spreading near his shoulder blades. Jane opened her eyes to reality and her husband's body transformed into that huge mass of muscle standing in front of her. She tried to remove her arms, but Bane held them in place.

'… try to inhale through your nose.'

She coughed when her lungs rejected the air. Bane ran the palm of his hand on her back, moving it in circles right behind her lungs. Jane closed her eyes again and let her imagination flow. She imagined that the body she was so close to was her husband's, it made her smile a little. Bane stopped stroking her back when her respiration normalised but did not remove his hand. She had never felt so relaxed, he could feel her smile right on top of the scar in the middle of his chest, and wondered what had caused it. He put his hands over her shoulders and checked her face. Her eyes were red; her eyelids, slightly swollen. The tears had created a small stream between her lips, which had gotten paler, and her neck had already began to redden. He passed his thumb over the lips, breaking the water flow, trying to bring the pink color back to them. Jane scowled at him and slapped his face in a rush of anger, although his hand intercepted hers in the air, grabbing her wrist with strength. She tried to resist and get rid of his grip but Bane's arm began to pull from hers and there was no way that she could fight that. He brought her hand close to his neck making her touch his skin; his heartbeats were quick under the palm of her hand, his breathing was becoming somewhat faster too. Jane frowned still feeling the tension on her arm. She wanted to say something but the words just would not come out, and when her lips parted, no sound came out of them.

'Believe it or not, I am as confused are you are.' his voice sounded harsh and strained. Bane forced her hand down his chest and stopped on top of his heart. His stare was intense, as if he had become the battle field of a war between his brain and his body. His hand moved slowly, putting pressure on her wrist without hurting her. Jane glared at him blushing with anger, her nostrils taking in all the air they could, her arm still trying to release itself.

'Let m-'

'Shut up,' he sighed trying to release tension from his body. He began to move his hand again and Jane panicked even more when her eyes were covered with his free hand. Jane struggled to set herself free but she could not move nor see. His hand smelled like soil and was rough on the surface, she moved her head again and hit the back of it against the wall. 'You are hurting yourself.'

'I don't care.'

'I am restraining your body, not your mind' his hand stopped moving on top of his hips. Jane felt like he was giving her time to think but she could not focus her mind. Her tears began to flow again and soon covered his hand. He saw the drops falling down her cheek, she did not look angry any more though, she just looked scared and lost. The pressure on her wrist diminished, her breathing slowed down and when Bane dropped her hand, she did not take it away.

'I miss him too,' she took a deep breath, 'Roger.'

'I can understand that,' he imitated her and breathed deeply.

Jane sniffled and exhaled air through her mouth gradually. She could not even remember when had been the last time that she had seen her husband, or felt him. A finger slipped under Bane's vest. _Roger._ Jane's eyelids appeared to be glued together as she slid her whole hand under the garment. The skin that her fingers met was firm and scarred; the one that she was seeing, soft and rather mushy. Bane unfastened the shoulder and waist straps of the vest silently; her hand felt the loosening of the fabric and made its way up his chest at a slow pace. Jane's hand felt warm and tottery, it tickled his skin and also the quietness that he was trying to maintain. He could feel the tension of the fabric against his neck when her fingers approached his collarbone so he began to remove his shirt cautiously, trying not to wake her up from whatever better reality she was immersed in. That alternate reality did not include a man with a mask so when her hand felt his neck, he guided her down his shoulder and arm until their fingers became entwined and they both stopped breathing for a second. Her hand was small and weak compared to his and her fingertips felt like ants walking among them, playing with his, stroking his palm. Jane stepped forwards without opening her eyes, her step had been wobbly but her face remained still, wet from the tears, warm from his touch. _Roger. _Jane closed her fingers around his and drove his hand to her waist. All his efforts to keep his breathing as silent as possible vanished when his lungs let out all the air that was being kept inside of them in a noisy long exhalation. He slid her shirt up over her head, stroking her skin as his hands delineated her torso, shoulders and arms. He spotted several scars in the way, two of them from shootings, a few more from knives, all of them pale and smooth, perfectly healed. He brushed back the wet hair around her eyes and framed her face with his hands. For one second, he hoped he did not have that mask around his face so he could approach her even more without interrupting her thoughts and disturbing her reality with the touch of the cold metal. He tilted his head towards her unconsciously and rested his forehead on hers, the mask slightly touching her nose. _Bane. _Jane moved slowly, feeling the rough and pointy surface with her nose and cheek, she went past it to find a comfortable spot between his neck and shoulder. _Roger. _Her body relaxed under Bane's hands, feeling light and supple but also tired. He bent his knees, lifter her body up and carried her to bed.

Her eyes were open when he gently placed her under the dark green sheets, it was dark but he could distinguish the glow of her grey irises staring at him.

'Roger.' she said out loud tilting her head to a side and trying to focus her eyes on the photograph that stood on the night table. 'He's not here. He left.' she turned back to Bane and blinked quickly to get rid of the tears that had began to gather under her eyes, 'you are here, are you him?'

'I am here but I am certainly not your husband.'

'You haven't left.'

'I will. Tomorrow.'

'I know. Tomorrow.'

She blinked slowly, inviting him to come closer, her fingers sliding up and down his sides and tracing his scars. Bane closed his eyes and exhaled noisily, the look in her eyes was making him loose control and he did not want that to happen. Her fingers slid under the sides of his pants and stroked his hips.

'Oh, Jane.' his voice sounded like growl coming directly from the back of his throat. She looked at him in the darkness, bringing her hands to his face and caressing the skin around his eyes. 'You shouldn't have done that.'

Bane sank his face on her neck and inhaled deeply making an effort to catch a smell sweeter than that of the metal mask. There it was, a mix of soap and salty tears, tears that he had created. He explored her body with his hands, and cheeks imagining that the mask was not there and that his lips could kiss her skin. Being drawn to his own improved reality without the mask, he realised that Jane might still be in hers, creating a new world inside her mind where he probably did not even exist. He looked at her inspecting her face and the almost invisible smile that her lips were shaping. Her eyelids were shut again but her eyes moved under reacting to his movements. They followed his hands while they slowly and smoothly removed the rest of their clothes; they also followed hers when she reached to stroke his back... and they followed his body under the dark green sheets as it carefully merged with hers.

_Roger._

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**A/N: ****-Things that I have learnt while writing this chapter: post-traumatic stress disorder. **

**-Yes, that is what Jane is suffering from. I read about it while I was beginning to write the first chapters and thought that it was exactly what she would be going through. She has been showing some of the symptoms in the past few chapters and I wanted to develop her 'disorder' until it came to this extreme point where her emotions and feelings are being completely messed up and altered. There was an interesting section about how people suffering from PTSD can develop special relationships towards the person that caused the trauma and thought it would be interesting to portray here.  
**

**-No, I'm not an expert in PTSD so if there is some specialist or person that suffered from it reading, sorry if I got it wrong :(  
**

**-Yes, I like reading about mental disorders, I think it is a very interesting field :)  
**

**-Thank you for reading! I really appreciate it!  
**


	12. She Needs You

**A/N: I am not a native English speaker so sorry if there're any grammar/vocabulary mistakes.**

***Lots of dialogue in this one! People do need to talk :) I hope you like it and... thank you for reading! :)  
**

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**12. She Needs You**

A tiny scar on her lower abdomen caught his attention. It was perfectly delineated, smooth and bright, following the natural lines of her body, and although it was not very big, it was noticeable enough to bring back that irritating feeling of guilt. He felt the urge to cover that minute discoloration and quickly found himself pressing his hand against her skin in a ridiculous attempt to protect what was already gone. In the darkness, he heard the soft sound of the sheets moving and then felt Jane's fingers weaving with his and squeezing his hand. He remained silent, not sure if his voice would be welcomed, and then heard her weep quietly, snuffling every now and then. Her body was tense under his hand, her stomach contracting when she fought back the tears, her hand pressing his intensely.

'Can you wait until I fall asleep again?' Jane whispered difficultly while she turned around to face him. 'To leave?' Bane nodded slowly still holding her hand firmly. He dried her face with the sheets and carefully stroked her eyelids to close her eyes. He wished he could talk to her and tell her she would not be alone in the morning, but his voice felt too ashamed to give shape to any word and he was not sure that she was completely aware of his presence. He simply lay there in silence, caressing the scar with his fingers, gazing at her in the shadows, alone with his thoughts.

...

'Jane?' a distant voice echoed in her sleep. 'Jane, where are you?' the voice grew stronger and louder, she could not distinguish any shape or texture, everything was dark and her dreams had already gone away. Now it was just that voice. Her eyelids opened up slowly, still feeling the confusing remains of a soft touch, some kind of foreign caress that Jane could not remember. The sun blinded her sight during a few seconds, she was looking for someone, but did not know who or why she was doing so. Her arm was stretched out, reaching the other side of the bed, surrounding someone's chest, but there was something unusual, something that did not feel right; that chest was too soft, too wrinkly. Her eyes and senses woke up to see an empty opposite side of the bed, a pillow under her arm, and no human chest, no one.

'Jane? Jesus! Are you ok?' a hand on her shoulder, this time it was real. 'Jane, please, tell me you are ok…' Her eyes reluctantly turned away from the pillow and looked at the person who was yelling at that woman lying on the bed. _Jane, me, myself._ She was not sure, though. His cheeks were reddened, his breathing was fast and noisy and his eyes showed a tiny hint of happiness when she finally looked at him. 'Hey, it's me,' he whispered recovering his breath, 'Roger.' The sheets slid down her chin, the cold air flowing over her bare neck and shoulders. 'What happened? Jane, what happened?! It's all red! Was it him? Was he here?' a shocking movement hit her back against the mattress. Reality.

'What?…' Jane inspected his face hoping to find some irregularity that would reveal the nature of a dream, but she did not find anything. It was him, she was sure. She was awake. 'What are you doing here?' Jane sat up and covered her body with the blankets, partly because it was cold, partly because she was embarrassed.

'I got a text, it said you needed me,' he cleared his throat and sat on the bed, 'I suppose it was Gordon because the number was hidden… and, Jane, Alice told me about you and that bastard, Bane, she told me you were taking care of him at the hospital and when I heard about the escape I got worried thinking that you might be hurt,' he looked at her neck again, 'and hell, it seems like I wasn't wrong. Was it him? Did he do this to you?'

Jane stared at him with heavy eyelids. She had only understood half of what he had said and her brain was struggling to find some order in the structure of his words. His dark short hair was uncombed and messy, his black eyes moved around the room eager to find something that would give him more clues about what had happened in between those four walls and Jane could distinguish some shiny drops of sweat falling down his neck.

'Roger, calm down, I think I'm alright.' her voice sounded louder than she had wanted it to be, 'my head is a mess.'

'Just like the living room…' Jane avoided his eyes and looked through the window, 'he was here, wasn't he?'

'Yes.' she wrapped herself in the sheets and lied her back against the wall.

'Did he…abus-?'

'No.' she looked at him, 'I don't know, Roger... No.'

He took his time to reply. Jane knew he was trying not to say what he really thought because he always did the same when he lied. He would look at the floor like a little child and then he would remember that she knew his trick, so he would gaze at her face again in a rush, like he had just done. Jane smiled slightly at that familiar moment and stroked the sweat away from his neck. 'But you know we have to take you to the doctor, right?' he held her hand. 'And call the police.'

'Yes.' Jane grabbed his arm when he was about to stand up and kept him in place. Roger was bigger than her, but she was strong enough to hold him where he stood. 'Where have you been all these months? Where did you go?'

'I went to Tony's' he rubbed his eyes and sat next to her. 'When the provisional bridges were built I stayed at my parents'. They asked about you… and the baby,' he took the picture from the night table and stared at his son's face for a while, 'I couldn't give them an answer, Jane. I just cried for hours and told them I had left you. They wanted me to come back and bring you there but I couldn't. I'm so sorry, honey. I just…broke down.' Jane hugged him and cradled his head in her arms. She tried to comb his hair and dry his tears, she thought of all those days that she had wished to have him back and there he was now, looking as exhausted as he was, as internally destroyed as she did. He sobbed noisily for minutes, holding the photograph of the son he had lost against his chest and feeling the warmth of the woman he had abandoned inside his heart. Jane did not want to stop hugging him, truly believing that he would disappear if her arms moved. She looked around scared, her mind was beginning to work again and the images that were appearing in her brain were not logical. She saw Bane, her broken cellphone, his arms around her neck, his naked torso, the sheets… his naked body.

'I need to shower.' Jane stood up brusquely and got rid of Roger's grip. 'You… you can stay here, I don't mind if you stay. But I need to shower. Yes.'

'I understand if you want me to leave, but I don't think that you should be alone,' he sniffled and followed her to the bathroom door.

'Don't leave, please.' Jane forced her legs to stop shaking and pretended to be in control of what she was doing, but she clearly was not, 'I'll be right out.' she stared at him for a second and turned around. Roger looked at her body when the sheets fell to the floor and was glad to see that there were not any more bruises. She covered her chest with her arms and closed the door.

The face that Jane saw in the mirror disgusted her so much that she had to look away, she could not stand her own sight. _You fucked the man that killed your son._ She took a deep breath and opened the wooden drawer that was to her right. Her fingers walked in between the small cardboard boxes until they found what she needed. The little metal piece looked so shiny under the light, so bright and pure, although it was rather cold and the single touch of it made her whole body shiver. She held it tight inside her hand to make it warmer and then glanced at it again. Her fingerprints were stuck on it, just like Bane's were on her skin, she had to get rid of them, she had to cleanse her body of his touch. Her big toe touched the warm water inside the bathtub and then the rest followed. Roger would have said that it was burning but she liked it that way, so she sat down and rested her head on a towel. It felt relaxing now, she could hear Roger's steps outside, he was probably restless and was peeking outside from behind the curtains; he had always been a bit too paranoid, but this time he had a good reason. She chuckled imagining the faces he made when he was suspicious of something. _I'll miss him, _she thought while stroking the tiny metal piece against her skin. Jane closed her eyes and tried to focus her thoughts on her little boy, such a handsome baby he was. She saw him running towards her in the park, it was stormy and Jane struggled to imagine a sunny weather, but her brain was too tired for it so she just ignored it and looked at his happy face. He was not happy anymore. He was crying. 'No, mommy!' his sad voice hurt Jane's ears. She tried to cover them with her hands, but her arms felt heavy and the only part of her body that she was able to move were her eyes. She saw the red walls of the bathroom, they were bright blue but the water was covering her face and she could not do anything about it, something was holding her there. The stormy weather came back inside her head and she embraced it, she thought that it felt much fresher than the hot water but she hoped that the sound of the thunders would allow her to listen to William's voice at least once more before dying. It did not, when the thunder stopped, it was just silent.

...

James Gordon recognised the man that was sitting on the chair and also recognised the emptiness inside his eyes.

'Hi, son.' the Commissioner shook hands with him, 'I don't know if you remember me, I'm James Gordon, I-'

'I do.' Roger dried his face and stood up. 'I'm ready.'

'Good. Let's go.' The room was small but cozy, the doctor invited them to sit down and then she opened a folder full of papers and pictures of what Roger recognised were Jane's neck and arms. The woman covered the photographs with the folder and handed the rest of the documents to James Gordon. 'He's Roger Miller, Jane's husband.' the doctor shook hands with him. He was getting tired of shaking hands with people that he did not know and wished he had not met.

'So, your wife's stable for now.'

'Oh, thank God.' Roger let out a sigh and hid his face behind his hands. He felt Gordon patting his back gently and heard the sound of more papers. There had to be a _but_, he knew it.

'We'll just have to wait to see how she develops. The loss of blood was rather high so she's been given about about two litres of salines and other two of O blood; low blood pressure was increased and stabilised together with heart rate. Right now she's on mechanical ventilation to help reestablish the level of oxygen but I believe this will be back to normal soon.'

'She's intubated?' Roger dared to ask.

'No, no. There was no need for that. It's just to give her some extra oxygen. She's conscious and able to breathe by herself,' she took another paper, 'as for the marks in her neck, those are clear signs of strangulation but there are not more signs of violence in her body.'

'Good, good.' Gordon kept track of what the doctor was saying by reading the papers that she had handed him.

'I'm afraid you'll have to wait a few minutes to see her. I'll tell the nurses to bring you in when they have finished with the IV lines.'

'Thank you.'

'Doctor, do you mind if I stay here with Mr. Miller while he waits? I would like to talk to him privately.'

'Please.'

Roger sat down again and gulped. There was the _but_ that he was waiting for. James Gordon moved his eyes around and put his glasses on the table.

'What did that bastard do to her? Huh?' Roger could feel his blood burning under his skin and kept imagining ways of killing that so-called Bane.

'Nothing, nothing. They haven't found any signs of violation but… this isn't very nice, Mr. Miller. They…' he sighed, 'doctors found sperm when she was examined for possible sexual abuse.' Roger remained silent for a few seconds digesting the information that he had just received. 'We cannot analyse that sperm without her approval, so until then, all possibilities are open.'

'What possibilities? That she willingly had sex with that…thing? For Christ's sake, our kid died because of him, why the hell would she do that?'

'I have seen her medical history… she has been taking antidepressants for PTSD but there is no record of psychological treatment. Her mental state is not stable and Bane might have taken advantage of that, but I can't be completely sure.'

'It was me. We made love,' he snapped.

'Mr. Miller-'

'What? We are married, right? We hadn't seen each other for half a year, I missed her and she missed me. It's natural.'

'Well, in any case, officer Sykes is suspended with pay. I told her to take some personal time off and she didn't. She is clearly not aware of her instability and that is causing her major trouble, I want her out of the force until I have proof that she has recovered. The investigation will continue and if we need to come back to you about this, we will, and I hope that you'll tell me the truth then,' he stood up and picked up his things, 'listen, I know this is a hard time for both of you, just don't do anything stupid. I'll try to keep the media away from you two, Bane was under her supervision and they'll soon start to speculate'

'Thank you.'

'Don't thank me yet, those beasts are hard to tame… And say _hi_ to Jane from me, tell her that she finally got her vacation.'

'I will.'

There were two IV lines connected to her arms and the beep of her heart sounded slowly in the background. She was covered in blankets but was still shaky, her skin had goosebumps from the cold, although Roger could feel that the heating was quite high inside the room. He sat on the chair by the bed and rested his head on his hands. Jane woke up with the sound of the metal sliding against the floor and stared at him. Roger's eyes were wet and red, he looked like he had not slept at all for days and a shy beard was beginning to appear around his lips. Jane tried to hold his hand but he took it away reluctantly with a sigh. He knew.

'What the hell, Jane?' he covered his mouth and nose with his hands and breathed deeply, 'what the hell did you do?' he whispered.

'I don't know.' she cried silently, 'I'm sorry.'

'You've been suspended until you recover... mentally, Gordon wanted me to tell you.' Jane nodded keeping her eyes on him, 'you have to go to therapy.'

'I don't need it.'

'The hell you don't need it, Jane. You screwed the killer of our baby! You are loosing your mind!' Roger stood up and paced around the bed, 'and I truly hope that you did it unconsciously, because if you wanted him… there's something really wrong with your head and I don't know if I could handle that.'

'You can leave me, I can take care of myself.'

'Really? Really, Jane? Can't you see what you've done? It doesn't look like you can take care of anything right now. I'm not leaving you alone.'

'Maybe if you hadn't ignored me for seven months I wouldn't have done this!' Jane's heart rate increased and the oxygen machine began to pump air faster. Roger took the mask from her hand and put it over her mouth and nose.

'I don't want to argue with you, it's the last thing we need now.' he stroked her hair back and placed the thin elastic straps around her head, 'do you want me to leave?' Jane shook her head taking a deep breath. 'I still love you, honey and I miss our kid as much as you do. I also needed some time, you reminded me so much of him I couldn't stand it. I needed fresh air.' Jane looked for his hand again and this time found it. 'I am really sorry I left you alone.' He kissed her forehead, sat on the chair and laid his head on the pillow, next to hers. 'I won't leave you again, no matter what. But from now on, things are gonna change, things are gonna get better. I promise.'

Jane kissed Roger's head and closed her eyes. She saw Bane's face nodding at her in the darkness and remembered the warmth of his body and his gentle strokes on her stomach when she had tried to fall asleep. She thought about hurting herself again, but instead, she counted to ten, squeezed Roger's hand and sighed.

'Did they find him?' she asked almost whispering scared of whatever reply Roger was gonna give her.

'No, not yet.'

...

Barsad closed the door behind him and Bane was finally left alone. Half of his mercenaries had been arrested and sent back to prison, the sewers were impossible to recover as base of operations and the only safe place that his closer commanders had found in Gotham was that old hideout for criminals under the Opera House. They had to move soon, though, probably to the other side of the northern river, near the airport. He tossed the maps of the new semi-destroyed Gotham onto his desk and sat on the bed. His right leg seemed to be as restless as his mind was and would not stop hitting the heel against the floor. He tried to calm down by lying on the bed and turned the TV on; he wanted to be informed about what happened in the outside world while they were trying to sneak their way out of town. An officer had been taken to the general hospital after having been found unconscious by a relative in the bathtub. Bane wondered why that was news, but he got his reply right away. 'It seems that she had been in charge of keeping Bane in confinement… when the terrorist escaped, he broke into her house and sexually abused of her, taking advantage of the wrecked emotional state the officer suffered from… tried to suicide after the encounter… doctors report that her recovery is going as planned and is receiving good care from the people she loves…'The TV shut down, Bane stood up and unplugged it. He was not surprised at that failed suicide attempt, but much to his annoyance it got him worried and angry. He looked around the room he was in and desperately looked for something that would keep his thoughts of a moribund Jane at bay. There was a cellphone on his desk, the battery was running low and it had began to vibrate. Bane grabbed it from the table impatiently and checked the screen, it was still the same one from a few hours ago, the one that displayed the message that he had sent: 'She needs you.' He snorted and threw it against the wall wondering where his intelligence had gone when he had typed those words. He felt stupid and uncomfortable, because he had to admit that acting foolishly might have actually saved Jane's life.

'Perhaps stupidity shouldn't be underestimated after all.'

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**A/N: ****-Things that I have learnt while writing this chapter: hypovolemic shock!  
**

**-So, as Roger has promised, Jane's life is gonna be getting better now that she is not alone and is going to receive professional treatment to help her deal with William's death.  
**

**-Not much Bane in this chapter, I'm sorry about that, but I felt for giving some more lines to Roger so you could get to know him a bit more.  
**

**-More Bane in the next chapter! (which will take place a few weeks after the events in this one)  
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**-Thank you so much for taking the time to read it!  
**


	13. I do

**A/N: I am not a native English speaker so sorry if there're any grammar/vocabulary mistakes.**

**** Two months since the last update! I really can't keep up with the pace that I had before and I apologise for that. But I want you to know that I'm not going to forget about this story :) Also, I think I need more time to write if I want to do something readable and with (some kind of) quality. **

****Thank you again to those of you that sent me PMs asking about Regeneration! It makes me really happy to see that you haven't forgotten about it! And thanks to everyone for reading! Hope you enjoy it!**

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**13. I do**

The colours of spring had arrived and the mood of the city and its inhabitants seemed to have bloomed as well. The snow had melted away, the rivers were in movement again and life had come back to the once deserted gardens and parks. No one had forgotten about the siege or the explosions, but seeing how nature overcame the winter gave Gotham hope to believe that the city would definitely see better days. Jane had never thought about it, about how hard it must be for life to break through the thick layers of ice every year. She had always seen spring as the end-of-expensive-electricity-bills-and-shoveling-snow period, but this time it felt different, this time she could really feel and appreciate how everything was being reborn, including herself. She tried not to think too much about Bane, or about anyone else apart from herself. Her therapist had motivated her to do so, she needed to dedicate some time to herself and think about what she really wanted to do with her life, what she needed to change and what she wanted to stay the same.

Jane held the door for an old couple and then she stepped outside. The sun shone lonely up in the sky, its rays looking bright and sharp now that the clouds had decided to travel south. She took a last look at the results of the final blood tests. No asterisks, not a single one. Jane smiled feeling proud of herself both because the level of blood cells were perfect and because it was the first time that she had managed to keep cholesterol low; one of the good consequences of not having celebrated Christmas whatsoever. _That's it, positive thinking. _Having positive thinking did not mean that she had to forget about the past, of course she would not, she would just have to learn how to cope with it. Jane cleared her thoughts away and ran towards the bus which was about to leave. She needed to be back at the station soon. The psychiatrist had considered her apt to perform simple tasks within the police force and Gordon had accepted her application to work in the administrative section. Fines, warnings and old archives were now her everyday, but she could not complain, it was a peaceful place and, most importantly, safe.

'Hey, Sykes, breakfast time, you wanna join us?'

Jane's grey eyes appeared behind the computer screen and searched the room for her workmate.

'I can't, but thanks. I took some time off this morning to go to the doctor, I gotta finnish this before twelve.' She pointed at a huge pile of paperwork that was barely standing on her desk.

'Alright but, you know, take it easy, huh?'

'Yeah, yeah, no stress, breathe in, breathe out, I got it.'

Jane sighed when the man left and rolled her eyes. Almost everyone in the department knew her story with details that Jane could not even remember, and the ones who did not have any idea about it would probably do soon. Although they tried to make her feel comfortable, Jane knew that most officers were just scared about another suicidal attempt and did not want to be present when that happened. She could hear them talk behind her back saying that she had gone insane, that she should not have saved Bane's life and her favourite one, that she had deserved to be abused for doing so. _Fuck them all. _Jane took the first folder from the pile and opened it up.

'Jeez, thieves are busy these days,' she whispered to herself, 'it seems we're back to normal...'

She read through the first page and took a quick look at the rest. There were small robberies, burnt cars, minor aggressions, but nothing big, nothing strange, nothing that could give anyone a clue about where Bane was hiding. _And there he is again._ The tiny part of her brain that always made her look where she should not turned its light on and illuminated that small area of grey matter that had Bane's stamp on it. Unconsciously, Jane minimized the document she was working on and opened the database of Gotham's Police Department, her index finger levitating over the letter _B_ in her keyboard, indecisive, tense. She typed in his name as quickly as possible and pressed _search_. Nothing new, though. Jane straightened her back and approached the screen, intensively reading each sentence, each line, each piece of information. Her eyebrows were furrowed, her teeth biting her lips repeatedly, her brain being imprinted all over with that same word, Bane. _Where are you hiding? _

The telephone rang loudly and the door opened. Jane jumped on her seat looking around, her workmates were back, the phone was ringing and the window with Bane's face in it was still open. She closed the database and pretended to be busy by moving around the folders, she felt her heart pounding with strength inside her chest as if it were to pop out of her at any second. Jane breathed in and picked up the phone while waving at the other officers.

'GDP Archives, how can I help you?' she opened her notebook and got ready to note down.

'There's some singing going on under the opera house.'

The creepily modified voice hung up and disappeared. Jane remained silent, her face looking confused and her eyes, wide open.

'That was weird.' she said out loud. 'Some creep just phoned to talk about opera.'

Jane made sure that everyone was busy and basically, not paying attention to her, and then, she entered Bane's name in the database again. She scrolled all the way down until she found the very first report from the day in which he had escaped. The white van had been found burnt at Saint Mary's park, a group of people had spotted him in the southern part of the park, at Sullivan Street, one of the main streets that led to the Opera House. _Are you there? _Jane changed the keywords of her search and read through the different texts where the Opera House was mentioned. Nothing special had been found there, but lots of criminals had mysteriously disappeared in the southern part of Midtown, near the building. It was said that they had probably gone to the Narrows, just a few meters away, but the entrance to the Narrows was constantly watched, they would have been caught. _Okay, that's enough._ Jane scolded herself internally and closed the database, although she found it hard to stop considering the possibility of surveying the surroundings of the Opera House during each of the nine hours that passed by until her shift ended and was allowed to go home.

She promised herself that she would not do it, she repeated it again and again inside her mind as she drove past the Wayne tower towards Saint Mary's Park. She would turn east, cross the bridges and get home. She would not go south, she would not even approach the the Narrows... But when the traffic lights became green, Jane did not turn east, she kept driving south and in less than ten minutes, she was able to see the impressive structure of the Opera House. She blamed herself as she parked the car on the other side of the road, and wondered what on earth she was doing going there alone, going there at all. Jane walked around the building but nothing seemed out of place. She came back to the main entrance and looked at the waters of the river. The stars reflected on it and it actually looked like the universe was expanding right under her feet. Her eyes followed the waves produced by boats, they broadened slowly in a quite relaxing manner until they reached the rocks and dissipated. _Huh?_ Jane stood on the tip of her toes and looked down at the rocks, the waves had not actually disappeared, they were entering some kind of tunnel under the wall. _Don't do it, you idiot. Don't fucking do it. _Jane sighed, checked that her phone was working, and then she jumped down.

...

'We've got company. Southern entrance.'

Barsad's voice interrupted his thoughts. Bane turned around and stretched his back. He had been mostly sitting all day, with his mind immerse in all the different maps of Gotham that he had collected, finishing up with the details of the next movement, the final one.

'How many?' he asked almost glad to hear news about potential fighting.

'Only one.'

'That's disappointing,' he said, 'kill him.'

Barsad seemed doubtful, he looked around and talked again.

'It's a woman and she's armed, probably police.'

Bane walked past him and checked the monitors that were hanging on the walls. His eyes scrutinised every image, moving quickly from one to another, until he found what he wanted. The female walked in the darkness at a quite steady pace, pointing with her gun at every corner that she glanced at, feeling the ground with her right foot before giving one more step, turning around every now and then when the waves crashed on the rocks. Her silhouette seemed somehow familiar, her movements too, and for one second, only one, Bane wished it was her. However, his brain began to work rationally once again and realised that he actually dreaded the idea of Jane standing right in front of his eyes, among his men, hurt, or dead.

'Change to camera four.' The woman suddenly looked up, right into the camera, right into his eyes. She had seen the light. Bane felt his back shivering, his heart racing, his brain clogging. 'Get out, you fool.' Bane observed how she kept walking without looking back anymore, her image moved from screen to screen as she advanced through the tunnel, approaching the end of it. 'Retreat,' he whispered to himself. 'Retreat,' he repeated. Bane glanced at the other screens, the ones that showed the areas surrounding Jane. He could see his men positioning around her in the darkness, waiting for his approval to shoot. They were so close. A series of images started to flash inside his head, it was the flare of guns shooting at Jane, he saw the bullets impacting against her body, her face drowning in the water, her body being carried away by the stream, inert, lifeless. 'Bring her to me,' he finally commanded, 'unharmed.'

Bane stared at her face in the screen as four of his men positioned themselves in front of her. She could not see them though, it was too dark so she was probably only reacting to the sound of their steps and the loading guns. He observed how her body froze when Barsad appeared behind her and how she clumsily tried to walk backwards to escape. Bane kept staring at the monitor, imagining that he could reach through the screen and pick her up inside his hand, so she would not be scared, so she would not have to suffer. He analysed her face once again, she was frightened but did not scream, or talk at all, she was silent. Barsad was holding her against the wall, immobilising her body, pressing her face against the rocks. Bane changed the main screen so he would not have to see anything else. That woman had already suffered enough pain and it was just depressing to see her get hurt again.

A few minutes later, Jane's body moved through the door like a puppet, her wrists were tied up behind her back, her head was completely covered by a black piece of cloth and Barsad was pushing her every now and then so she would not fall or hit a wall. When she finally stood still, Bane approached her slowly and, little by little, removed the cloth. Her face was hidden behind locks of hair but when Bane tried to remove them, Jane stepped back and glared at him.

'Don't,' she said firmly.

Bane grabbed her arm and pulled her closer to him. He checked the inside of her jacket, put the envelope that he found on the table and then kept frisking her. Jane looked away while his hands slid under her shirt to find a second gun and she tried to slip away when he felt the pockets of her pants. Without letting her go, Bane nodded to Barsad and the man exited the room closing the door behind him and leaving them alone. He paced around her for a few seconds, like a shark in the sea, a vulture in the sky. Jane did not dare to loose sight of him and followed his movements with her eyes. She could feel how the hours of therapy sessions were being removed from her brain with every step that he gave so she focused her thoughts on the doctor's voice. _He abused you. You weren't aware it was him. He used you. _Doubts, those horrid doubts were coming back to her again and she could not control them, Bane's presence was breaking her defensive barrier and he was doing nothing, just walking, just being. Jane thought that facing him again would feel different, that she would hate him and want to hurt him like they had told her she should, but instead, she was just doubtful. She placed her eyes on him, waiting for that burst of rage to explode, waiting for the guilt to hit her again, like they had told her it would happen. Nothing. Just wrinkles around his eyes and a smile behind the mask. She did remember that, and the doubts. _Does he remember?_

'Why were you foolish enough to come here alone?' Bane took the envelope from the desk and opened it up. 'Very good health, Jane. I am happy for you,' his bright eyes looked into hers, 'so, what is your reply?'

Jane looked down to her feet trying to find an answer to his question, but the truth was that she did not have any.

'I'm so full of contradictions I don't even know what I'm doing.'

'Everyone is full of contradictions, even me.'

'Yeah, you don't seem like it.' Jane shook her head to get rid of the hair that was covering her face and looked at him. It felt like a dream and a nightmare at the same time, she had wished so hard to find him and make him pay but now that he was standing right in front of her, she did not know what to do or what to think at all. 'I suppose I was intrigued... about how it would feel to see you again, if I was going to hate you or if it was going to be the same, indifferent.'

'And what are your conclusions?' he raised his eyebrows and observed her face carefully, pretending to foresee what she was going to say.

'I don't hate you, the past isn't going to change if I do.' She paused for a second, 'But I don't know if it's the same anymore, I don't know if I can be indifferent after-'

'Don't give so much importance to such trivial matters.'

'How the hell was that trivial? I tried to suicide afterwards!' Jane laughed so she would not cry.

'I was not aware of my horribleness.'

'You are so full of yourself, Bane.' Bane chuckled and turned around. He began to pack the maps and some other papers that Jane could not identify inside a backpack. It made her wonder if he was going somewhere, if they were leaving that place soon. Jane looked at the screens on the walls and noticed small shadows moving silently in one of the images, the one that showed one of the laterals of the Opera House. She moved closer to them and saw that they were not Bane's men, it was half of the police department, if not the whole. Jane's heart raced, her plan had worked, but now the back of her tongue was beginning to get filled with words that she could not restrain any more, that she had to release. 'Bane, the police is outside. They know you are here.'

Bane tightened the straps of the backpack around his chest and walked towards Jane. He surrounded the back of her neck with his left hand and pushed her forwards so she would start walking.

'I know and I couldn't care less.'

'What?' Jane tried to turn around to look him in the face, but Bane held his grip around her neck and kept pushing her body, guiding her through the tunnels. 'How did you-?'

'You might want to check the light settings of your cellphone.' Bane loosened his fingers enough so that Jane could move her neck. She lowered her sight and looked at her right pocket, the screen-light was shining through the fabric of her pants, the phone call was still active and indeed quite visible. Bane pulled from her neck and forced her to look front again. 'You should be embarrassed.' He laughed.

'Where are we going then?'

'To welcome your friends, we are ready to move.'

When Jane stopped to look around her, she was actually glad to have Bane holding her neck, otherwise her legs would have been too shaky to carry her weight. She should not have done that phone call, now she saw it so clearly. No face could be distinguished, but anger, hate and thirst for vengeance floated in the air. Jane did not dare to estimate how many of them there were, what type of weapons they were using, or what kind of explosives were contained in what seemed to be gas cylinders.

'Oh, shit.' she whispered trying to catch her breath. 'Oh, shit.'

'Relax. You will be safe.' Bane stopped in front of a metal door. The lights of the city sneaked their way through under it, and the shadows of people moving interrupted its flow every now and then. 'But I must apologise for this.' Bane let her neck go and put his arm around her shoulders, making sure that she could not move an inch. Jane felt his chest pressing against her back and how her legs were the only part of her body that she could use.

'Am I being your fucking shield?'

'Do not panic yet, Jane.' he pushed her and began to walk, 'let's meet our friends first,' Bane opened the door.

The first thing she saw was James Gordon's face. He looked ten years older and was pointing at them with a gun, just like the forty or fifty more officers that were taking cover behind the first batch of police cars. They were all ready to shoot. Bane felt Jane's chest expand under his arm and how she held her breath.

'Stay silent and keep breathing.' Bane opened the palm of his hand and spread his fingers over her shoulder, pressing her skin slightly, bringing her closer to him. He removed the ties from her wrists carefully and talked to her ear. 'Do you remember?'

Jane's box of unwanted memories opened up once more to the sound of his voice repeating those words and slowly fled every corner of her brain. The first thing she recollected was the smell of that foreign fabric, rough on its surface but permeable for her tears. There was also a sound, a repetitive but relaxing sound that had once invaded her ears and soothed her pain. It was a strong and slow beat that had cradled her body and protected her soul. She had just needed to stay silent, and breathe, with him. Jane lifted her left hand and held his arm.

'I do.'

* * *

**A/N: ****-Things that I have learnt while writing this chapter: Gotham's streetmap!  
**

**- Now I can say that I can go to Gotham and I won't get lost. I downloaded a huge map of the town and have been checking where everything is, which streets they should take, etc. It was fun!**

**-Do you remember the moment Bane was referring to with _stay silent and keep breathing_? Check chapter 11 if you don't! :)**

**- I have BIG (big as in Bane!) plans for the story and there is so much more to come. I am so hyperactive about it I can't stand myself!**

**- Again, thank you for taking the time to read it! I hope you liked it! :)**


	14. Are you?

**A/N: I am not a native English speaker so sorry if there're any grammar/vocabulary mistakes.**

**** Yes! I did it! Almost four months after the last update but, hey, better late than never! I really needed to focus on my studies so I've been quite busy writing essays, assignments, etc. I really hope that I will be able to update more frequently during the summer :)  
**

**** Thank you so much to everyone that has been asking about the story, you brought some light to this dark period of exams :D I hope you enjoy this chapter!  
**

* * *

**14. Are you?**

'Hold fire!' James Gordon raised his arm so that everyone could see him, 'that's one of us right there! Sykes! Are you unharmed?' Jane tried to nod but she forgot that Bane was holding her tight so her head just barely moved. Her eyes were still getting used to the bright lights that came from the police cars, she heard the sound of helicopters flying above their heads and could distinguish the shape of snipers on the roofs surrounding the Opera House. Jane's survival instinct woke up and she began to think about the possibilities that they had to get out of that mess alive. _Us. _She could have a chance, maybe the police would try to protect her, or at least she hoped that Gordon would try to do so, but Bane, he was going to have a rough time. His mercenaries had shown no mercy to the police force, they had literally buried them alive for months and when the officers had finally gone out, they had discovered that people in the surface had not had a much nicer time and that some of their relatives and friends had passed away. Logically, they were eager to make Bane's body look like a strainer and Jane was sure that some of them would not mind getting rid of her first in order to have him completely exposed. There was the sound of more guns loading and Gordon shouted again, 'hold fire!'

'They're gonna sh-' Bane held her closer and roughly pressed his arm against her shoulders to let her know that she should stay silent. Jane got the message and shut up. She realised that her fingers were sinking more and more into his skin but he did not seem to mind. Even though she was supposed to be his shield, she actually thought that his arm felt more protective than her whole body covering his. She was not sure who was protecting whom anymore, both of them were defenseless, or at least, so she thought. Her right hand met her left on his arm in an attempt to reassure that she was not alone in front of all those people; that was the only thought that brought some type of minimal tranquility to her mind.

'It will be alright,' Bane said quietly so that only Jane could hear him.

'Do you have any other hostages in there, Bane?' Gordon shouted.

'I do,' Bane looked around, 'all of you.'

'What are you talking about?' Gordon's face expression changed from mere nervousness to apprehension and he began to observe his surroundings out of the corner of his eye. 'You are surrounded.'

'Really?' Bane laughed, 'I wouldn't trust that uniform of yours so blindly, Commissioner. Uniforms hide the true appearance of the individual' he said as if he were lecturing children, 'do you know the faces of your men? I can recognise the faces of mine' with his free arm, he pointed at the snipers on the roofs, 'those are.'

The constant murmur of policemen began to fade away as the news that came from the front line spread like a disease. Everyone looked at each other trying to remember if they had seen that face before, scanning their eyes for the minimum sign of suspicion, observing their movements and inspecting their guns. Bane had planted the seed of mistrust. James Gordon felt the heavy weight of responsibility over his shoulders and tried to contact the government again. He had hoped for the main charges to change their decision about sending a negotiator, but they had kept being stubborn and had refused to initiate any process of negotiation with a terrorist. Their only order had been to eliminate Bane and he had to obey. A single voice rose over the silence.

'He's lying! Let's end with this shit!' someone said.

A small wave of movement and noises broke in the centre of the mass of police officers. There was some type of fight going on, but no one could distinguish any particular voice or any particular face. Silence reigned again and then, there was a shot. No one reacted. Everyone was standing on their feet, there were no signs of blood and no screams. However, Bane had felt the impact. It had hit Jane. Her body felt heavier and he had to use both his arms to keep her from falling, one around the shoulders, the other one around her waist. Jane began to quiver with fear, she felt a continuous vibration inside her leg that increased with heat and pain and seemed to have no end. Her breathing became quicker as the feeling of drilling grew deeper and deeper inside her leg until she could not stand it any more. She screamed.

'Where?' Bane asked while feeling her stomach with his hand to make sure she was not bleeding excessively. Jane shook between his arms and hit the back of her head against his chest. She began to cry and trembled again.

'The leg,' she said sobbing. Her head fell weightless to a side and rested against his body, she closed her eyes in pain and made an effort to talk again, 'the leg.'

Bane remembered the scars on her body and delineated them in his mind. One on her shoulder, one right above her collarbone. He took her belt off and put it on her hands.

'Tie it around the wound,' Jane's hands were shaky, she groaned. Bane loosened the grip he had on her and gave her some more space to move. 'Do it quickly,' Jane bent her right knee and pulled up her leg with her hands. She screamed once again and cried as the warmth of the blood flooded her hands and dripped between her fingers. With every movement, the muscles and bones in her leg felt as they were being torn into pieces, she doubted she could manage to wrap the belt around it without fainting and stopped to breathe again. 'I suggest you hurry up,' Bane began to tighten his grip and to move around pulling from her body. Jane had forgotten about everything else and could not distinguish what was happening around her. There were unclear sounds and blurry lights, she could only see the blood, hear her heart pounding quicker and feel that torturing pain. Jane put all the strength she had left into tying the belt above the wound. Her whole body was collapsing in shivers and tears, she screeched one last time when she tighten the belt to secure it, and then, she just hoped that Bane would not let her fall when she passed out.

...

It was windy and cold, her feet could not touch the ground, her body felt very light. Jane wondered if she had died, but then perceived Bane's presence close to her. Either they were both dead, or she was still alive. It was almost painful to open her eyes, but she managed to separate her eyelids enough to have some focus. There were small beams of light everywhere, some of them were still, some others moved up and down. The silver letters of the Wayne tower caught her attention because they looked enormous and extremely shiny, but the next time she blinked, they were gone. Jane tried to move her neck and look for them but it was immobilized. Bane's hand was holding her forehead, pushing her head back gently into the space between his head and left shoulder. The city of Gotham stood under their feet. Her brain processed the information little by little, and when the reality of her position appeared clear inside her mind, Jane began to panic. She moved her legs and arms striving to find something to hold on to desperately, the hammering pain in her leg came back and so did the tears and the moaning. Bane restrained her movements with strength and tried to calm her down.

'You will not fall,' he talked to her ear so that the wind would not take away his words, and pulled from the harness that was strapped around her body. Jane automatically clutched the bands of the harness firmly, and dared to look down. Hundreds of metres under her feet, the southern area of Midtown began to disappear under a thick layer of smoke. Columns of fire rose into the sky from the ruins of the Opera House, illuminating the windows of the adjoining buildings with their gigantic flames, swallowing their shadows and destroying the tranquility of the night. Jane shook her head repeatedly with her eyes wide open, feeling the salty taste of her tears running down her parted lips. She could not pronounce any sentence or even articulate a word, her brain was receiving too much information and it could not react at all. Her eyes unconsciously followed the colorful lights of the firetrucks as they made their way to the south and vanished within the smoke. 'That's exactly how you look, Jane,' Bane said slowly, 'there are clouds in your eyes but the chaos grows behind.'

Their bodies flew away in the darkness, being rocked by the wind and hidden in the fog. Jane hung like rag doll in the hands of a child, her tears fusing with the tiny water droplets that impacted against her skin. Her eyes were open, but she could not see; her heart was beating, though she could not feel. Bane reached to touch her face with the tip of his fingers, she turned around and stared at him with empty eyes. She slowly slid her hands towards the safety lock on her harness and held it carefully. Jane kept staring into his eyes with that strange look, blinking rapidly when the clouds flew between them, shivering in the damp cold of the fog.

'Oh, there she goes again,' A new mass of water vapor came in between them. Jane heard the sound of the metal sliding against the cables and then felt Bane's hands on hers. He grabbed her fingers away from the lock, turned her body around and held her hands behind her back. 'If you are going to kill yourself, at least you could be more discrete about it.'

They lost sight of the flames and flew past the North River towards the outskirts of Gotham. It was gloomy and silent when they landed, Bane checked that Jane was still awake and fully conscious, he disassembled her harness carefully, placed it over his shoulder, and helped her walk towards the darkness. Jane remained silent, still thinking about the men that she had seen inside the building, wondering if they were still breathing, if Bane would have been ruthless enough to let his own men burn alive. She noticed that the floor was metallic and when her eyes adapted to the darkness, she could distinguish that they were on the roof of one of the hangars that had been recently built relatively near the airport. A few metres away, a small door that led to a staircase opened up; a man stepped outside and walked towards them. He was probably in his late forties, had grey hair, glasses and a smile on his face. Jane felt relieved to see that he was not carrying any weapons, although she became nervous when he approached and held her arm. He did not hurt her, he helped her stand.

'What do we have here?' the man asked.

'Standard nine millimeters, I believe,' Bane looked at Jane and she nodded.

'Alright, alright, nine millimeters, police, I suppose, yes, I've dealt with those before.'

Bane let her go making sure that she would not loose her balance and walked away towards the door at a steady pace. Jane remained quiet, in the middle of the metallic roof, with her hands and face stained with blood. She used her sleeve to dry her tears and runny nose, and observed how Bane did not even turn around, feeling lonely and scared. Bane heard her weep and snuffle.

'There, there,' he said with that mocking intonation that Jane had almost forgotten, 'just stay with the good doctor.' Bane disappeared behind the door. The man held Jane more comfortably and began to walk with her. They entered the building and went downstairs. Every step she gave was more painful than the last, the wound had stopped bleeding but the doctor seemed impatient to get Jane to whatever place they were going. When they finally reached the ground floor, he allowed her to stop to breathe for a while and then continued. The place was illuminated with fluorescent lights, Jane could hear the steps of other people passing by, but her eyes were fixed on the floor and her mind was focused on keeping balance, so she could only see their feet and hear their voices. Sometimes they talked in languages she did not understand or even recognised, sometimes she thought she had heard French; some others, Spanish. The grey-haired man opened a door, they stepped in and she was able to sit down on what it looked like a hospital bed.

'Can you lay down, please?' the doctor washed his hands and put on latex gloves. 'My name's Walter,' he bent over Jane and checked her pupils, 'what's your name?'

'Jane.'

'Ok, Jane. I need to take a look at that wound of yours, would you please remove your trousers?' Jane did as she was told and realised that such a simple operation had become extremely painful. The man bent her knee carefully so that he could see the back part of the leg. 'So here's the exit.' He looked at Jane and smiled, 'I'll clean it up and put some bandages over it for now. You'll need antibiotics after that.'

'Are the bones broken?' she asked not sure if she wanted to hear the reply.

'No. It went in through the external right side, and the exit wound is exactly on the opposite side, so it has probably only damaged some muscles. Also, you would be crying on the floor if your bones were broken, that's for sure. I once had a patient whose leg was broken in a half, I managed to sew it back, although he got a severe infection and then I had to remove it again, but you know, it was in the old times, now everything is very advanced, so don't worry. This is just a minor gunshot wound, you've been lucky.'

'Yeah, so lucky,' Jane whispered to herself. She rested her head on the bed and scanned the room with her eyes. It looked like a proper examination room, they had expensive equipment and that was surprising. For the first time, she wondered where they got the money from, and also wondered if Bane himself had paid for all that. He did not look like a millionaire, at least not the type of millionaire that Jane was used to see. Maybe he had just stolen it.

'Here, pain killers,' the doctor handed her two pills, Jane inspected them with suspicion and then put them back on the palm of his hand.

'Thank you, but I would prefer not to take any pills,' she tried to be as polite as possible.

'Smart,' he put them away, 'although those were real pain killers, but I can understand that you don't trust anyone here. I don't trust them either, I can barely trust myself.' He sat down on a chair next to Jane's leg and began to clean it thoroughly. Jane tried not to move too much every time that her body shrank in pain, she focused her thoughts on breathing properly, not passing out, and mentally begging for the pain to stop. 'You should have taken the pills, it would have been much easier. You know, this is a rather easy wound to clean, I've seen much worse. Sometimes the bone breaks into pieces and it's really like a game, you know, looking for white pieces within so much red. I've tried transplanting bones also, but...'

'Can you please shut up?' Jane said through gritted teeth.

'Oh, I'm sorry. I know it can be gross when you are not used to it, I just... I really enjoy this,' he kept murmuring to himself, smiling every now and then and humming songs. When he was finished with the cleaning, he bandaged the wound and stood up. 'You need to take antibiotics; intravenously,' he held a needle and a plastic cannula.

'I don't want anything coming from this place inside my veins,' she said firmly.

'You're gonna get a serious infection if you don't take them and your leg will probably end up in the trash.' Jane sighed in exasperation and extended her arm. She carefully inspected what he did and tried to identify the bottle from which he extracted the antibiotics. The man patted her shoulder when he had finished and smiled again. 'Very good. I'll give you another dose in twelve hours. I'll be right back.' Jane checked the small catheter in her arm and looked outside through the door. The doctor was talking on the phone and observing her every now and then. She put her trousers on and kept inspecting the place. A few minutes later, he came in together with another man. 'Go with him, I'll see you tomorrow morning.'

'Where am I going?' Jane asked.

'Where he wants you to be' the doctor led her out of the room and closed the door.

The soldier-like man looked at her leg, nodded and began to walk. Jane took a deep breath trying to calm herself down and gave one step. _Damn. _She just felt for lying on the floor and dragging herself around; she actually felt for anything except for moving the leg. She looked at her new companion's face trying to identify if she had seen him before in the police records, but of course she could not remember a thing. Jane tried to make as many mental notes as possible about her surroundings, in case that she had the possibility to report some information, although she had the feeling that that was not going to happen. The man did not make any attempts to help her so it took them quite a while to reach the place where she was supposed to be. He opened a door for her, waited for Jane to get in, and then closed. _Great. _

She sat on a chair and looked around. There was a mattress on the floor, a few backpacks leaning against it and some papers hanging on the walls. Jane stood up and checked the papers, which turned out to be maps. She saw a plan of the hangar and studied it carefully, trying to remember the rooms that she had passed by on the way back in order to locate her position. She grabbed the map and sat on the bed, extending the wounded leg. Her back began to slid down slowly against the wall so she decided to lay down instead, forcing her eyelids to stay separated against the relaxing humming of the fans and the warmth of the room. However, both her mind and her body felt too exhausted to fight for staying awake and within just a few minutes, she fell asleep.

Bane walked towards his room late at night, after the last of his men had reached the meeting point and everyone had gotten clear orders about what to do next. He was satisfied with the security perimeter that had been established and also with the fact that the police had been unable to follow the trace of the helicopter that had brought Jane and him to that place. He thought about Jane and saw her hanging in the clouds with her bloody face staring at him and her shaky pale fingers playing with the lock. For some reason, he wondered if her son had been as pale and then he remembered the picture in her house and the face of the little boy. He had a good memory. Bane stepped into his room and closed the door behind him. Jane was lying on her back, her breathing was deep and silent. He gave a few steps and looked at her face. The boy did look like her. He removed the map from her hands and let her sleep while he took off his boots, vest and shirt and stretched his back. He brought a basin with water from the kitchen and some pieces of cloth. Jane opened her eyes when he closed the door and woke up startled on the bed.

'It seems that my bed space has been compromised,' Bane said amused while grabbing the chair to sit next to her. 'But don't worry, I can sleep elsewhere.' He looked at the basin with water. 'Clean your face.' Jane sat up still a bit confused and yawned. She thanked Bane for the water and began to rub her face with one of the cloths. 'The doctor has informed me about your injury, he was very pleased with his job and estimates full recovery in three months. The pain will diminish gradually, although it might never disappear completely.'

'Of course,' Jane sighed, 'I don't have enough pain already.' She looked at him in the eyes remembering the feeling of protection and how she had trusted his words. At that moment, it seemed utterly insane to Jane that she had relied so blindly on him, but the truth was that, as he had said, everything had been alright and she had not fallen down. _Alright. What is alright? _In other circumstances, _alright_ would have meant to be home with her family, sitting next to a fireplace and eating warm food. Now, she did not even know why she considered that situation to be alright. Perhaps because she was alive, because they were alive. Jane looked away.

'Why are you ashamed?' Bane asked bending his back and resting his arms on his knees. 'Because you failed to suicide yet once again?'

'No. I don't know.'

'You do know.'

'Because I feel that somewhere in my messed up brain there is a part that is relieved to see you alive,' she talked slowly, as if the words were struggling to escape through her lips and she needed to put them in order before releasing them.

'Only a part of you? That is disappointing,' he leaned back on the chair and laughed.

'I'm sorry,' Jane snapped at him and closed her eyes in pain, 'shit, please, chop it off, it stings.'

'Lie down and rest,' he stood up and moved the backpacks to the other side of the room, next to the door. When he turned around, Jane was still sitting up, looking at his body. Bane approached her and squatted down. He tore off the bottom part of the leg of the trousers that covered her wound, leaving the bandages exposed and giving more mobility to her knee. 'This is better. Now, lie down.' Jane did as she was told rather uncomfortably. She felt completely helpless in that position because she knew that it would take her minutes to stand up again, and in the case of emergency, that would be quite a big obstacle. Bane grabbed his shirt from the chair, folded it a few times and placed it under her head. 'How did you find me, Jane?'

'Someone phoned,' she searched for his bright eyes and found them, staring back at her calmly, 'they said something about the Opera House, so I checked the records.' Bane dried the sweat away from his neck and sat down on the floor next to her with his back against the wall, 'at first I thought it was the Batman, but he's dead, so I don't know.' Jane turned around and lay on her side to face him. She examined the scars on his chest, 'how is your lung?'

'It works, thank you' the wrinkles came back to his face and Jane smiled too. If she only focused on his eyes and erased everything else around him, sometimes she could forget about his mask and make the fear inside her heart disappear. She found herself staring at the metallic structure on his face. 'Does it disturb you?' he asked.

'Yes, I can barely remember what's underneath.' Jane seemed thoughtful, she talked again. 'Do you ever wish that you didn't have it?'

Bane remained silent for a while. He grunted and hesitated to talk because he was the one that always made the questions, not the other way around. He looked at her seriously, already finding the words to let her know that he did not talk on request, but then, he distinguished something in her eyes. It was trust. That trust made him realise that Jane was far away from being one of his men, that she did not have any intentions of overpowering him and most importantly, that, at that exact moment, they were on the same level. He allowed his memory to travel back in time to find the last time that he had hoped for the mask to simply vanish in the air. The first thing he saw were green sheets, soft and dark, and the contrast that they made with her skin, Jane's skin. Her body was hiding beneath them, but he could see it, all of it, her face, her neck, her shoulders...

'Sometimes I do,' Bane replied after a while. He stood up and walked away towards the door. 'I wish you a pleasant night.'

'Bane?' Jane's voice sounded tired and weak. He turned around and looked at her in the distance, 'am I kidnapped?'

'Are you?'

'What do you mean?'

'I didn't take you. You came to me.'

Bane exited the room and the door was left ajar.

* * *

**A/N: ****-Things that I have learnt while writing this chapter: where to start... types of guns/bullets/gunshot wounds, how to heal gunshot wounds, consequences of being shot in the leg, leg anatomy, types of harnesses, types of stealth helicopters, basic protocol for hostage negotiations (that didn't happen in the story itself but I wanted to make sure that their actions were as accurate as possible in that sense) and last but not least, how much it actually hurts to get shot. I read some real life experiences of people who got shot in the leg and they all agreed that the pain began after a few seconds and then they just fell to the floor screaming/crying/passing out. So yeah, I've learnt lots of things with this one :D  
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**- I've decided to use my profile page as some kind of "communication tool" so I will be updating it with information about the development of the next chapters :)  
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**- Thank you so so much for taking the time to read it! :) I really appreciate it! :D**


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